Concern over deathtrap cars

Up to a quarter of the cars on Victorian roads are unsafe thanks to a lack of maintenance and ignoring the warning signs on everything from tyres and brakes to shock absorbers and rust. People need to be shocked into realising the consequences of these problems, according to the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce. It tracks the dangerous and unroadworthy cars on Victorian roads and says a growing number of vehicles are being discovered.

"It's getting worse," says David Purchase, executive director of the VACC. "We've got to drive this home to people to check their cars regularly." He has horrifying pictures of worn brake parts and tyres uncovered by repairers.

One car was driven 200km from Melbourne to Benalla with a bald tyre that was worn through to the metal casing. That owner was told the tyre was too dangerous and had to be changed immediately. In another case a woman tried to get three garages to pump up her flat tyre, not realising the tyre's inner wall had completely disintegrated. Another had the wrong brake calipers fitted.

"This could have led to the wheel seizing, the caliper to lock and brakes to fail," Purchase says. "You would expect a driver to be alerted that something was wrong with their car by the screeching noise of brake discs running metal on metal."

The chamber's own research shows that one in four Victorian vehicles are unsafe. However, Purchase believes the number is higher because of the data coming through VACC repairers. The VACC has been pushing its own five-point vehicle safety check program for five years but in the past 18 months has ramped up its efforts.

"Despite this our repairers are now reporting more and more unsafe cars. The message about vehicle safety is obviously not getting through" Purchase says. Some motorists are far too blase about vehicle safety, he says. The VACC released the photographs because it wanted motorists to see the alarming things "we see on a daily basis".

"You would hope an alarm bell would ring in a driver's mind when they saw the tread on their tyres was worn through and you would think a driver would spot a death crack in their wheel," he says. "Of course, if a vehicle is regularly maintained, these issues are rectified before they become dangerous."

Purchase is also mindful of highlighting the problems. "I don't want to inflame the situation but we are worried that we keep seeing these cars," he said.