Belt safety fears over luxury imported cars

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

Thousands of luxury Japanese used-car imports could have airbags that may not work in crashes because of changes to seatbelts which trigger the safety devices, importers claim.

The cars' seatbelts were refitted to meet New Zealand safety standards, enforced by the Government's safety agency, the Land Transport Safety Authority.

Former importer Steve Ward, backed by an Independent Motor Vehicle Dealers Association services manager Malcolm Yorston, said they spent years trying to get the LTSA to acknowledge incompatibility between the cars' airbags and the new seatbelts it was demanding.

But the LTSA denies knowing anything of the claims.

Mr Ward said the agency's insistence that factory-installed belts be replaced by those with "dual sensitivity" - able to be activated by either of two directional forces - left airbags unarmed.

Mr Ward said affected cars were Toyota Celsior and Windom sedans and Soarer coupes - top-end Japanese domestic models bearing the premium Lexus badge here. The early 1990s models were brought second-hand into New Zealand for several years starting from about 1995-1996.

Mr Ward said the association alerted the LTSA to the fault in about 1997. He estimated that more than 3000 affected cars reached New Zealand before the retrofitting requirement was dropped.

LTSA figures show that used imports from Japan included 177 Celsiors built between 1990-94, 150 Soarers built between 1993-99 and 1690 Windoms built between 1993-99. Mr Ward said that number did not include later model Celsiors.

"The LTSA caused the problem in the first place," said Mr Ward, a former vice-chairman of the IMVDA and now head of Optimech, an engineering firm monitoring metal fatigue on the Auckland Harbour Bridge and in the aircraft and building industries.

"A light came up on the dashboard warning there was a fault. In most instances the dealers, including myself, removed the bulb.

"We didn't know the significance of it at the time - although we all wondered why the LTSA was changing a safety feature of one of the best cars in the world.

When word filtered from Japan that the replacement belts would not arm airbags "the IMVDA got on to the LTSA about it but the LTSA didn't want to know".

"There has never been a recall on any of these vehicles and there should have been."

But LTSA principal vehicle engineer Andrew Justice said that if seatbelts compromised safety they must have been fitted incorrectly.

"This is the first time I have heard of this," he said of Mr Ward's claim. He acknowledged awareness of general lobbying to drop the requirement for replacement seatbelts but said he knew nothing of any concern these may disarm airbags, and invited importers to supply evidence.

"If that is the case, all we can do is investigate."

He said his agency consulted the industry before modifying its stance in about 1999 to allow single-sensitivity belts on cars meeting a high-performance frontal impact standard, and for which replacing parts may "corrupt" that standard.


Toyota technician Bruce Buckland said he could not comment on the Japanese domestic models.

"But in the New Zealand-new Lexus cars, if something happens to the seatbelt, a light comes up on the dashboard to indicate there's a fault. In some cases, that would mean that the airbag wouldn't go off."

Mr Yorston said he "tore his hair out" for three years or so trying to get the LTSA to acknowledge the problem. "I don't want to be seen bagging the LTSA. They saw sense and reason in the end and fixed the problem up. But there was a period of time when they required the seatbelts to be taken out."

Airbag worries

* Affected cars are the Toyota Celsior and Windom sedans and Soarer coupes.

* They were brought second-hand into New Zealand for several years starting around 1995-1996.

* The Celsior is the Japanese domestic Lexus LS400, the Windom the Lexus ES300 and the Soarer the Lexus SC400.