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# Australia’s car design laws help no one - Opinion
- URL: https://torquecafe.com/australias-car-design-laws-help-no-one-opinion/
- Published: 2026-08-24T07:00:45.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-24T07:00:44.000Z
- Description: Another month, another drama regarding vehicles and safety equipment in Australia. With so many headaches, why do we have Australian Design Rules anyway?
- Author: Jordan Mulach
- Tags: News, Industry

Every few months, Australia’s motoring media is able to get a few easy headlines after a car company finds itself non-compliant with our unique Australian Design Rules – but last week was different.

Relative newcomer GAC announced the arrival of the new Emzoom Premium variant, becoming Australia’s most affordable SUV in the process, though just how it got to that low price soon became clear.

Among the features deleted were the front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, which tighten the belts when sufficient force is applied, helping to prevent or reduce the severity of injury.

In safety-conscious Australia, few cars are sold without this potentially life-saving feature, which had previously been flagged as a major factor behind the MG 5 sedan receiving a zero-star ANCAP safety rating in 2023, which also lacked load limiters.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a9/b3/a9b3e204-3117-4792-9a32-46184029df44/content/images/2026/08/GAC-EMZOOM-PREMIUM-1.jpg)

GAC Emzoom Premium

MG subsequently righted this wrong, and now GAC – amid pressure from the Australian public – has announced it’ll do the same, saying the Emzoom Premium’s pretensioners will be ‘reinstated’ for examples arriving from November.

"GAC Australia acknowledges the concerns raised by customers and industry stakeholders following the recent announcement that seatbelt pretensioners and rear seatbelt reminder systems are not included in the Emzoom Premium variant," GAC said in a media release.

"It has since been confirmed that these features are not standard equipment on the Emzoom Premium grade in other global markets, contributing to their exclusion from the Australian specification.

"GAC International has now confirmed that both safety features will be reinstated for vehicles produced for the Australian market from Model Year 2027 production, with arrivals expected from November.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a9/b3/a9b3e204-3117-4792-9a32-46184029df44/content/images/2026/08/2023-12-2024-mg-5-ancap-crash-test-08.jpg)

The MG 5 scored zero stars in 2023, and was later upgraded and re-tested

"Providing vehicle specifications that meet, and where possible exceed, the expectations of Australian customers and industry experts remains a priority for GAC. We will continue to review and enhance our product offering to ensure our vehicles align with market expectations and customer needs."

However, the debacle has raised questions about the application of Australian Design Rules, or ADRs, which are the requirements manufacturers must meet to sell their vehicles here.

Currently there is no explicit requirement for vehicles to be fitted with seatbelt pretensioners, despite ADR 69 requiring certain performance parameters for occupant protection.

Given how crucial seatbelt pretensioners can be, to not have an ADR for them seems a huge oversight, especially when you factor in what vehicle features have been picked up for failing to meet ADRs – or not sold in Australia at all due to the extra cost.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a9/b3/a9b3e204-3117-4792-9a32-46184029df44/content/images/2026/08/crop_Jimny-Lifestyle2.webp)

The Suzuki Jimny was one of many vehicles impacted by new ADR requirements

In 2025, the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, Eclipse Cross and ASX, as well as the Mazda 6 and three-door versions of the Suzuki Jimny were axed locally as they would no longer meet autonomous emergency braking performance requirements of ADR 98/00\. This impacted other vehicles too, though these were the best sellers in the firing line.

Meanwhile, the Ford F-150 was famously both recalled and subject to a long-standing stop-sale in 2024, after it was found to have breached multiple ADRs regarding its lighting fixtures – items which were identical to those on US-sold examples, but in breach of local regulations.

Perhaps the most well-known ADR breach, and the one which keeps more cars out of local showrooms than any other, was for first the BYD Atto 3 in 2022, and then the updated Tesla Model 3 in 2023, both of which were found to not have top tethers for their centre rear seats.

With ADR 34/03 (Child Restraint Anchorages) requiring a top-tether anchorage point for each rear seat with a seatbelt in passenger vehicles, both had to be recalled. While both vehicles had the anchorage point hardware, it was hidden either behind seat fabric (BYD) or in the parcel shelf (Tesla), leading to the non-compliance.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a9/b3/a9b3e204-3117-4792-9a32-46184029df44/content/images/2026/08/MY26HondaHR-VRSeHEV067.jpg)

Australia's Honda HR-V only has two rear seats

This ADR more than any has arguably led to more cars being off Australian showrooms than any other, as it is not a requirement in Europe or Japan – among other countries – for the same top tether location.

The likes of the Renault 5 are off limits locally, due to the added cost of engineering in the centre seat anchorage point, while cars like the Honda HR-V have deleted the middle-rear seatbelt entirely to skirt the law, reducing its legal capacity to four occupants.

ADRs such as these are often viewed by the car industry as unnecessary and costly, putting Australia out of alignment with the rest of the world, though the latest GAC seatbelt pretensioner debacle has also exposed weaknesses in the system.

It took ANCAP, Australia’s new-car safety testing authority, to be one of the first industry bodies to call GAC out for the safety feature to be reinstated, though the organisation does not have the ultimate say in what is or isn’t allowed to be sold here.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a9/b3/a9b3e204-3117-4792-9a32-46184029df44/content/images/2026/08/suzuki-fronx-ancap-1.webp)

The Suzuki Fronx's rear seatbelt retractor failing

Instead, its job is to test how safe vehicles are – against criteria largely in harmony with Europe’s Euro NCAP – and inform motorists by providing this information. A crucial role which last year led to an internal review by Suzuki of its Fronx, after the SUV’s rear seatbelt retractor failed completely in crash testing.

But the true limiting factor behind cars being sold here – and to what standards – are our ADRs, which carmakers must comply with but don’t have to be tested against before vehicles reach showrooms, hence the previous recalls.

Ultimately, Australia’s car industry will never align on whether ADRs are needed or, if we did get rid of them, what other regulations would become the new norm, but enough recent incidents have shown it’s time for a re-think.