Don’t wait for safety mandate, says Daimler Truck boss
President and CEO of Daimler Trucks Australia applauds the Government for mandating active safety in trucks but says it's pointless to wait for the law to kick inDaimler Truck and Bus Australia has welcomed the Australian Government’s announcement that Advanced Emergency Braking System (AEBS) for 3.5-tonne plus trucks and buses will be mandated locally, but encouraged customers to act now.
As we reported last week, the new mandate states that AEBS and Electronic Stability Control (ESC) systems must be installed from 1 November 2023 for all new models of heavy vehicles.
They must be installed in new buses already in circulation by 1 November 2024, and in new goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes from 1 February 2025.
“Daimler Truck has long identified the major benefits of active safety features for our customers and the wider community and led the industry with its introduction across all classes with our Mercedes-Benz, Fuso and Freightliner models,” said Daimler Truck and Bus Australia Pacific President and CEO, Daniel Whitehead.
“We commend the move to mandate this critical technology, but also would encourage customers not to wait until then and instead demand AEBS on any truck or bus they buy from now on.”
AEBS helps to avoid or mitigate collisions with other vehicles by using sensors to monitor the road ahead and perform emergency braking in the event the driver does not. Daimler Truck systems can even initiate a warning and brake when it detects moving pedestrians.
Mercedes-Benz first introduced AEBS on the Actros heavy truck in 2010, while the Freightliner Cascadia was the first conventional truck to feature AEBS from 2019.
Fuso became the first manufacturer to feature AEBS across light, medium and heavy-duty truck classes last year.
The Fuso Canter light truck was the first to introduce these safety features as standard in the light-duty truck class with the updated Canter in 2019 and the new Fuso Rosa is the only light bus to feature AEBS.
The Fuso’s eCanter, winner of the Trucksales Innovation Award 2022, is the only electric truck currently available in Australia with active safety features.
“It makes no sense to buy an electric truck with no active safety features when they are available on another model, even if you overlook all the other benefits of the eCanter,” Mr Whitehead says.
The all-electric eCanter is currently in operation with Australia Post and Centurion fleets.
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