The New Zealand Minister of Transport Safety has expressed his doubts importing vehicles from New Zealand.

His comments come amid the controversial Right Hand Drive Bill proposed by Samoan Government in October last year. The RHD bill proposes to switch the current road code from driving on the left hand side, like that of New Zealand and Australia. The previous ban on the importation of right hand drive vehicles was lifted in February, signaling the seriousness of the Government’s proposal to switch sides.

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Subaru’s new generation Impreza was the big winner at the Automobile Association (AA) Motoring Excellence Awards, New Zealand’s premier motoring awards.

The Impreza WRX STI spec.R also won the overall Supreme Car of the Year award in Auckland.

Impreza was judged the safest car on New Zealand roads too, with its independent five-star ANCAP (Australasian New Car Assessment Program) crashworthiness rating for occupant safety and its top four-star pedestrian protection rating.

To be eligible for the awards, all models in a range had to have the same safety specification, which the Impreza meets, from the entry-level 2.0R to the range-topping WRX STI spec.R.

Safety features alone don’t guarantee safety said the AA, “hence the decision to make this award based on crash test results which measure and allow direct comparison of each car on a level playing field.”

All models in the Impreza range come with Vehicle Dynamics Control (electronic stability and traction control), six air bags, ABS with Electronic Brakeforce Distribution and Brake Assist, and a body with ring shaped reinforcements, as well as front and rear impact crumple zones. All-Wheel Drive is also standard on all models.

In winning the overall award, the Impreza WRX STI also won the Performance Car class, heading off vehicles that cost over NZ$100,000 more than the Subaru.

The Impreza WRX STI was described as “a proper supercar” by the judges. “The grip of this vehicle on the road and track was like a four pawed – five clawed feline clinging to hallway carpet.”

The AA said the latest WRX STI “has softened the rock hard suspension of old without becoming soft. Its range of adjustment offered a practical hatch friendly enough to take the family away for the weekend at one end and an intoxicatingly involving plaything at the other.”

“And it looks the part too with flared arches with their aggressive lines suiting its adrenalin-pumping persona.”

After taking the Performance Car class and the Safety award, Chris Rickards, General Manager, Subaru New Zealand, accepted the overall award.

“This is unbelievable,” he said. “Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru’s parent company) have given us a great product. These are the first awards for the STI internationally. Three in one night is fantastic.”

The Impreza’s safety award is confirmation of Subaru’s commitment to active and passive safety. Every 2008 model Subaru sold in New Zealand – Forester, Legacy (known as Liberty in Australia), Outback and Tribeca – as well as Impreza has constant All-Wheel Drive and five star ANCAP occupant protection safety ratings.

The New Zealand-specification Impreza 2.0R Sport was also recently winner of NZ Autocar/AMI 2008 Compact Car of the Year making it one of the most awarded cars in New Zealand for 2008.

Source: Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.

A New Zealand driver who used a fake car seat belt to fool police was killed when it failed him in a head-on crash, local media reported recently.

Ivan Segedin refused to wear a seat belt while driving and had been fined 32 times in the past five years for not wearing one, a coroner’s court heard. Segedin, 39, died in a crash on July 22 last year from multiple injuries when his car crossed the road and collided head-on with an oncoming vehicle on North Island, coroner Carla na Negara said.

“Ultimately Mr. Segedin’s actions in driving without a seat belt have cost him his life in an accident that he may well have survived had he worn one,” the New Plymouth Daily News quoted her saying.

Though his car was fitted with seat belts, an extra belt with a long strap had been knotted above the seat belt on the driver’s side, providing a belt to simply sit over the driver’s shoulder, Negara said.

Importing vehicles into New Zealand became that much harder after plans were revealed for even tougher restrictions on new car imports to ensure they comply with current international vehicle emission standards.

Associate Transport Minister Judith Tizard said the Government vehicles must meet the European and Japanese vehicle emission standards within two years of a standards being adopted in those countries.

The draft rule would set out a series of steadily increasing standards that used vehicles would have to meet for entry to New Zealand, and may be ready to be implemented this year.

“In addition higher quality vehicles will also help to improve the fuel economy of the country’s fleet and improve vehicle safety,” Ms Tizard said.

According to a document prepared by the Independent Motor Vehicle Dealers Association (IMVDA).

New Zealand Government is planning to restrict the importation of used vehicles beginning from 2008 to reduce exhaust emission from old vehicles.

As for gasoline-powered vehicles, the Government plans to introduce, from 2008, the same emission standards which were previously introduced to Japan in 2000.

For diesel-powered vehicles, it will introduce the 2002 Japanese emission standards to New Zealand in 2009.

New Zealand Cabinet already agreed that the Ministry of Transport consults on the above-mentioned scheme.