Keeping us on track

However, all complaints except one about a Hyundai TV ad about two children in nappies driving a Santa Fe sports utility vehicle have been dismissed by the Advertising Standards Bureau.

The ASB last week upheld the complaint that it was illegal for toddlers to drive and that they were wearing seatbelts instead of legal child restraints.

Hyundai agreed to retract the ad which was filmed in New Zealand and featured a toddler in nappies who picks up hitchhiking Springwood toddler Siena Dutson.

Hyundai Motor Company Australia PR general manager Richard Power said he had received calls of support from the public, but had no other campaign ready to replace the ad.

"There is no doubt that the controversy about this decision will attract attention but in a while it fades away and people forget and we will have to raise the awareness some other way," he said.

Car ads represent about 15 per cent of complaints to the ASB, second only behind food (about 20 per cent).

Over the past year, nine Ford ads attracted complaints, while Toyota and Nissan had five each and Honda and Holden four.

Two of the Nissan ads featuring Sex and the City actress Kim Cattrall attracted complaints about sexual content.

Complaints about sexual content were also levelled at the Fiesta ad in which two scientists mould clay, and two Falcon ute ads in which women and dogs follow the car.

Honda's Odyssey ads in which a married couple are "making out" in the car received complaints for "a simulated sex scene".

A Holden Rodeo ad featuring a man fantasising about a Rodeo and a female passenger apparently promoted infidelity.

Unsafe driving represented the most complaints, despite the ASB beefing up its crackdown in this section of its code of conduct in 2004.

Ford and Toyota attracted the most complaints for promoting unsafe driving practices.

Toyota copped its complaints for ads involving its Corolla Sportivo, Yaris, Prado and a Kluger which leaves behind a torn road surface.

The Ford ads were the Turbo Territory eating sports cars, another Territory ad in which women drive past a school and the ad in which a young boy is disappointed because he can't get a Falcon slot car to fly off the track.

A Holden Captiva jumping across the tops of buildings was also considered dangerous driving, but was dismissed as fantasy.

Mazda attracted complaints for offensive language in a Mazda BT50 ute ad for use of the word "bloody".

Ford's Ranger ad in which a one-eyed monster throws boulders at the ute was considered too scary for young children, but the complaint was dismissed.

Ford also copped complaints of racism and incitement to violence for its Tonk-a-Pom cricket campaign.

Cruelty to animals was the complaint in the Focus ad in which Jackie O pours a goldfish down a drain and in a Toyota LandCruiser ad in which the driver wears crocodile-skinned boots.

Animals were also blamed for offensive behaviour when a dog in the back seat of a Dodge Caliber moons dogs in other cars.

The drought prompted complaints that an ad in which a man hoses down his mud-caked Nissan Murano was inappropriate during water restrictions.

Environmental issues also surfaced when complaints were received about a Jeep ad which allegedly featured "polluting diesal (sic) motor vehicles hiding behind the pristinity of a lovely natural environment".

A Kia Carnival ad in which a sleeping woman is woken by a Kia salesman blowing a horn attracted complaints that it was "dangerous to blast an air-horn close to a person's ear".