Overweight utes threaten road safety

Thousands of new-age dual-cab utes could pose the next big safety threat on Australian roads.

Eager owners are upgrading but overloading the top selling Ford Rangers, Toyota HiLuxes, Nissan Navaras and all the other one-tonners with equipment which is dragging them outside their safe operating range.

Extra weight is the enemy, and the problem has already been identified by a number of major government authorities and fleet operators under their Occupational Health and Safety requirements.

The added weight affects the performance of high-tech antilock braking and stability control systems which are closely calibrated for their job as a safety net. The stability of the vehicles may also be affected by the accessories some owners are fitting.

Caravanners being targetted

Police and road regulators are also starting to target heavily-laden caravans being towed by one-tonne utes and SUVs which are not suitable, or outside their safe operating range, for the job.

“It’s a case of automotive obesity. We could be heading for a real crisis,” says Scott Pedder, director of Pedders Suspension.

“Some owners of these utes and SUVs are binging on everything from bullbars and lights to winches and giant toolboxes, without thinking about the weight they’re adding.

“Everyone talks about excessive speed, but extra weight is just as bad – or worse – for the brakes and handling of any vehicle,” Pedder says.

“Just think about the extra braking distance in a heavily-loaded ute. Or the effect of carrying lots of weight in the tray that unloads the front tyres,” he says.

Work or play?

Traditional tradie trucks have become almost default work-and-play escape machines for many Aussies. With this has come extra mass as owners have added everything from off-road accessories to cosmetic upgrades to tyres, wheels, lights and bullbars.

Pedder says the problem has been identified by all of the major aftermarket suspension companies in Australia, who see vehicles which have been modified outside their core design.

“It’s come down to the fact that manufacturers are building utes for the main priority, which is daily driving. A lot of people are now using them for something else and carrying a lot of weight,” he says.

“We’re seeing in our shops that the springs and shocks are not suitable for the extra weight. [Other suspension companies] Lovells, ARB, TJM --we’re all seeing it.”

Pedder isn't levelling his criticism at the carmakers but highlighting the modifications done by owners. To this end his operation has built ‘Load and Tow’ software and now offers an inspections at its branches.

“There is a lot of push by manufacturers to have as much payload as possible. The current model range is 1000kg above the kerb weight, and a tonne is a lot of weight. They’re doing a great job of designing better cars, but then having a shock and spring combination that works well at zero weight, and when it’s also carrying an extra tonne, is tough.”

Pedder’s eponymous company is doing a lot of government fleet work on the Toyota HiLux but says the country’s favourite ute is not alone on the obesity scale.

“I don’t think there is a huge dramatic difference between the different makes and models. The Ranger is heavier in the rear end than the HiLux, and the Navara is a bit different with coil springs, but they each have their strengths.

“The cars aren’t the problem -- it’s the perception that you can carry a lot of load in these vehicles without any drama. People don’t understand the weight they are carrying.

“Everyone is talking about speed these days, but weight is the other factor that dramatically affects chassis dynamics.”

Extra support needed

Pedder says his company has been spending substantial sums on R&D developing spring-and-shock packages to get the Aussie new car favourites back into balance. But it’s going much further, from different bushings and stronger bolts to designing and manufacturing support braces for some vehicles.

“We’ve spent millions. And millions,” Pedder says. “We’ve developed combinations that work for ride-height improvement to full GVM upgrades. We’re taking this very seriously.

“We’ve got full Secondary Manufacturer status for our GVM packages, complete with independent quality testing and certification. That can be quite a regime, which is the way it should be, but it means us spending ten of thousands per model, just for the testing.”

But he has another warning about the spread of the ute obesity epidemic.

“It’s all driven by market demand. There are vehicles out there that, for whatever reason, where the payload is not enough for what people want to do.

“People want to do more, and carry more, and tow more. The utes are better than some of the five-door wagon SUVs. We’re just in love with accessories and putting a special stamp on our vehicles.”

No stopping now...

Pedder says it’s one of the biggest challenges to the family company since it was established by his father in 1950 (on the way to becoming the biggest aftermarket suspension specialist in Australia).

And it’s not just about numbers on a piece of paper.

“It’s more than non-compliance issues. Changing the load on a vehicle and how it is distributed can make a significant difference to the ABS [antilock brakes] and ESC [stability control],” Pedder explains.

“Manufacturers spend a huge amount of time getting that stuff right.”

For now, there are warning signs but no crisis, although Pedder is convinced that a crunch point is coming.

“It will become a crisis if the authorities wake up to the facts and the extent of the problem. They are stopping vans at check points for towing, and we know of some fleet vehicles that were stopped recently in Sydney and weighed,” he says.

“It’s already an OHS issue and some local and state governments are coming to us and other specialists to talk about the problem. We know the SES are working on it, and Queensland Rail.

“Some of the vehicles which roll into our Pedders stores are dramatically overweight.

“The scary thing is those people don’t know until we weight their vehicles and show them what they’ve done,” Pedder warns.