Safety

Ford has put out a recall notice and stop-sale order for some of its Mustang sports car examples in Australia. The recall impacts 7724 units built between 2023 and 2026, across both its 2.3-litre four-cylinder and 5.0-litre V8 engine options. The Mustang is one of the most popular choices for sports car buyers on the market.Nearly 500 vehicles in dealer stock will not be sold until the issue is rectified.Any stock built since the start of June is not affected by the issue as well as upcoming Mustang Dark Horse and Dark Horse T8 Spec Pack examples.The issue concerns potential vibrations causing the engine wiring harness to break loose.“Due to a manufacturing defect, the engine bay wiring harness ground terminal may become damaged due to vibrations,” the notice reads. “This may cause the wiring harness to break, resulting in a loss of engine power. Additional safety functions such as the headlamps and windshield wipers may fail to operate as intended. “A loss of motive power and safety functions whilst driving increases the risk of an accident, resulting in serious injury or death to vehicle occupants and other road users.” A spokesperson for Ford Australia said there have been no reported instances of the issue occurring in Australia.   Ford will contact affected vehicle owners in writing to request they contact an authorised dealer to arrange inspection and repair, free of charge. Owners can also contact Ford Australia for additional information. 

Car makers are constantly coming up with new features they think we need, from big screens to weird door handles. Often these cause more problems than they solve.We get it, since that very first person with a face full of mud 140 years ago said: “Geeze I wish my jalopy had some kind of screen to protect me from the wind”, manufacturers have been trying to wow us with newer and better features in the hope we’ll buy their product. Who can argue with windscreens and wipers, air-conditioning and airbags, radios and sound systems? And we love proximity unlocking, head-up displays and heated seats. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are superb, blind spot warning and parking sensors have saved us from embarrassment and saved lives. But then there are the other inventions that make you wonder what on Earth were they thinking?Vibrating seats? Door handles that disappear and are hard to use? Giant glass roofs in Aussie summers? Huge screens that have done away with all the real buttons? Safety alerts so distracting they’re possibly even dangerous?     We know what we want so here’s our list of features we’d like to see, and please jump in and tell us what you think cars need and maybe the message will get through to the carmakers.There are few features more disappointing than the voice command function in cars. The promise was a Chat GPT or Siri style helper that could not only carry out vehicle functions easily but also plan our journeys and organise our calendars. Well they couldn’t keep the promise, because the current versions in cars are next to useless.  Is it too much to ask for our real dials, switches and buttons back? Over the past five years we’ve watched them disappear before our eyes into touch screens, making the process of just turning the air-con temperature down an awkward process of finger swipes and stabs.The windscreen was a great idea, and combined with windscreen wipers, meant driving in all weather conditions was now possible. But are we not at the stage where a kind of smart chromatic glass can be used that adjusts to cut glare and brightness when driving into the sun. Yes, there are sun visors and sun glasses, but there are many reasons why these aren’t perfect.While we’re at it is there a better way to keep windscreens clear in torrential rain? Windscreen wipers are fantastic but can a charged windscreen be developed where water doesn’t hit it in the first place? Just asking… Full-sized spare wheels are heavy, take up space and are hard to change. But they’re better than space savers spare wheels, run flat tyres and repair kits.For years we’ve seen innovative tyre prototypes that aren’t filled with air and don’t puncture, but here we are a century later still driving around on balloons. Cars dent and scratch way too easily. The cost of repairing metal panels and respraying is huge, and means the car is off the road for weeks sometimes. Yes, the ultra high-strength steel and aluminium that’s used today is better than the steel we used to use, but why aren’t we using plant-based fibres and resins to build the bodies of our vehicles?  Steel is so last century.Actually it was last century in 1941 that Henry Ford patented his soybean car, which had a body made from plastics reinforced with hemp and flax fibres. The car was 500kg lighter than a regular steel car and up to 10 times stronger than steel. So what happened? World War II seemed to derail the push for bioplastics and steel continued to rule the world.

Toyota Australia has introduced a factory-backed solution to help prevent theft of its vehicles.A secondary immobiliser genuine accessory is now available to purchase for current-generation LandCruiser 300 Series and Prado 250 Series vehicles at Toyota dealers for $1735 fitted.Toyota is currently studying whether it will widen the number of models it’s offering this factory-approved secondary immobiliser to.The Japanese carmaker has been rolling out improvements and enhancements to its vehicle security systems. These not only include the LandCruiser 300 Series and Prado, but also the HiLux and RAV4.The secondary immobiliser system is claimed to enhance the security offered in the standard, factory-fitted immobiliser.It provides an additional layer of vehicle start authentication and is designed so the vehicle cannot be started without the immobiliser key fob in range.There’s also an independently powered siren with a battery backup. It’s designed to activate in response to unauthorised actions and provides an audible deterrent even if the vehicle’s primary electrical power is disconnected.Although this secondary immobiliser does provide another layer of vehicle security, Toyota claims it still doesn’t guarantee complete theft protection.The introduction of this secondary immobiliser genuine accessory comes off the back of rising vehicle thefts.According to the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA), motor theft claims rose 2.5 per cent nationally in 2025. Victoria in particular recorded a 25 per cent increase in 2025.Many vehicles, including Toyota vehicles, with keyless entry systems have been targeted recently as there are devices that allow thieves to get around the vehicle’s security system.Toyota Australia says it is still collaborating with law enforcement agencies, industry and government agencies to promote the banning of devices used to facilitate vehicle theft.Toyota Australia still promotes the regulation of legitimate devices used by locksmiths, mechanics and other automotive professionals.

Australia has recently scrapped a few road laws, but there are still plenty of others I reckon need ditching, too. That’s right, as one financial year ends and another begins it’s not just accountants who get excited but road users can, too, because this is the time that old traffic laws are scrapped and new ones are introduced.This year one of the most popular changes will certainly be the scrapping of the road work speed limit during non-road work times in New South Wales. Previously road work speed limits have been enforced 24 hours a day and regardless of whether road work was taking place. The lower speed limits are designed to slow traffic down to 40km/h or even 20km/h and are crucial in protecting roadside workers. The only problem with this was the low speed zone still applied even outside road work times. On a busy motorway this led to some drivers sticking to 40km/h while others raced past at 110km/h. I’m glad this one has changed, but there are so many more that could do with scraping and replacing, too.Here’s a few that could do with changing, surely I’m not the only one who feels this way - feel free to jump with what you think needs changing on our roads, too.I’m completely against excessive speeding. I feel that if you’re in need of speed then you need to take it to a race track where you’ll be humbled very quickly. That said, I think speed cameras, especially the kind that are unmarked, are more about making money than saving lives. Scrap the speed cameras, but keep the red light cameras and bring in more police patrols with radars. That’ll save more lives and change driver behaviour.Running red lights is beyond stupid and dangerous and I personally think that red light cameras should be at every set of traffic lights, so what I’m about to may say sound ridiculous.I think drivers should be able to turn left on a red light upon stopping and checking to ensure the coast is clear. This works perfectly well in the US (all states allow a right turn on a red light) and it would work here too, improving traffic flow and actually increasing driver situational awareness.   Who knows how much trouble this one is going to get me into, but the law against going slightly over the speed limit while overtaking needs to be scrapped. This would only apply to single carriage ways and at no more than 10km/h over the speed limit. There’s a couple of good reasons for this.First I’ve experienced drivers speed up while I’m overtaking; second I’ve had vehicles from the other direction approach quicker than expected, and it’s not a good idea to have two cars travelling at speed barely 50cm apart together for any longer than a couple of seconds. Sometimes a little hustling is needed to get back to safety. Surely the less amount of time spent on the wrong side of the road the better. This is simple: if the left-hand lane ends and drivers have to form one lane then those in the continuing lane need to give way. The current law states that those in the lane that ends need to give way, but that’s ridiculous. They’re literally going to run out of a lane in a matter of seconds, let them in for goodness sake.South Australia, NSW and the Northern Territory only allow P platers to travel at a maximum speed of 90km/h or 100km/h, while the rest of the country allow them to travel at the maximum 110km/h speed limit. Really the P-Plater maximum speed should be in line with the rest of the traffic and an extra 10km/h to bring them to 110km/h would go some way to preventing other road users taking risks to get past them.Yes, the Northern Territory has some highways that are 130km/h, and no I don’t think a P-Plater is ready for that speed on a rough bit of tarmac like the Stuart. Anyway, that’s my list for now, and I’m sure I’ve missed many more but feel free to jump in and tell me the road rules you’d like to see scrapped and why.

Aussie EV owners could soon be facing a battery crisis.The world’s biggest battery maker CATL has warned shortened vehicle-development and validation cycles are leading to wide-scale electric car battery failures, according to reports. CATL Chairman Robert Zeng said China’s battery defect tolerances are too lenient for high-volume Chinese EV production. Chinese carmakers have launched more than 600 new vehicle models this year already, equating to almost three new EVs every day.Potentially rushed development processes could spell trouble for EV buyers down the line.  CATL is calling for defect tolerances to only allow for up to 1000 defective cells for every one billion cells manufactured.Defective electric car batteries don't just stop a car from driving, but they can also give rise to other safety issues.The Chinese GAC Aion S was involved in a “banana battery” swelling issue in mid-2026, impacting 213,000 lithium-iron-phosphate examples, where batteries were physically bending. Australian GAC Aion vehicles use a different battery.This led to cell leakage, insulation faults and power system shutdowns while driving. Supplier CALB was forced to implement extensive quality reforms and inspection measures as a result of the controversy.It doesn’t take much for an EV battery to stop working, according to Zeng, who said packs are only as reliable as the weakest component. Just one defective cell can be detrimental to the performance and safety of the whole pack. There was a high-profile compensation claim from Geely subsidiary Viridi in early 2026, where it sued battery maker Sunwoda for 2.31 billion yuan for defective cells supplied from 2021 to 2023The pair eventually settled for 608 million yuan. EV battery reforms are on the agenda in Australia. A recent report from the Australian Automotive Dealer Network (AADA) called for serious changes to rules around EV battery replacements.The report warned of a “wave of litigation" when EV batteries need replacement outside of the warranty period because their cost could exceed the vehicle’s remaining value. One particular dealer said Chinese-built cars are “not holding their charge” or are “blowing up on fire”.It puts forward that manufacturers should be required to define acceptable battery thresholds or disclose the expected degrading of a unit. If a battery holds at least 70 per cent of its charge after eight years, it would be considered to be performing at an acceptable level, for example. 

This is the real danger of utes and SUVs.For the longest time, sedans were the dominant player of the car market and held the majority of sales.Over the past 15 years though, the SUV revolution has been in full swing across the world, taking over from those sedans and hatches that previously dominated the sales charts.SUVs have higher bonnets than regular cars, making it more difficult for drivers to see over the top of, and presenting more deadly consequences for pedestrians when they get hit.When a pedestrian is hit by a vehicle with a lower bonnet, they often roll onto the top of the car.But, on vehicles with raised bonnets like SUVs and utes, pedestrians go under the vehicle, according to research conducted by The New York Times.SUVs and utes are by far the most popular cars in Australia, and research like this is not going ignored.Put simply: Bonnets are getting taller, increasing the danger to pedestrians.The study found that since 2009, the number of pedestrian deaths each year in collisions with vehciles has increased by an enormous 75 per cent. Between 200 and 400 pedestrians a year would have been spared if vehicles had stayed the same height, according to findings from the study.This is despite significant increases in on-board safety systems and software, with safety groups now placing significant emphasis on preventing accidents and not just how cars perform for occupants in crashes with other vehicles or stationary objects.As the top 10 best-selling cars in Australia are all either SUVs or utes, and this is something the local car safety watchdog is paying attention to. The Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP) weighed in on the dangers of large pick-ups last year.“Larger vehicles pose a bigger threat to other road users than passenger cars,” ANCAP Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg said. “The best way to reduce the potential risk of fatalities and serious injuries from large vehicles is to make sure they do the best possible job at avoiding a crash.“There is community concern over the size of pickups when they are driving in suburban streets, around schools, and in built-up areas.”A spokesperson for ANCAP told CarsGuide the organisation would consider bonnet heights more closely as part of its safety comparison testing in the future.Transport for NSW have been contacted for comment on bonnet height and their impact on pedestrian safety, but has yet to provide a response.

Two affordable EVs have learned their safety fate in Australia. The Geely EX2 and Leapmotor B05 electric hatchbacks have provided buyers with some new options in the budget-focused electric car space. They have now both been tested under the Australasian New Car Assessment Program’s (ANCAP) new 2026 protocols.  They are among the first to be tested using the revamped criteria that places a great focus on preventing accidents and safe driving. The B05 is Leapmotor’s newest and most affordable model put on sale in Australia, starting from $35,990 (drive-away). It achieved a five-star overall rating from ANCAP. ANCAP emphasised the hatchback’s strong crash avoidance performance, heaping praise on its lane departure warning and auto emergency braking systems.The watchdog said Leapmotor needed to improve in scenarios involving pedal misapplication and driveway runover risks. The B05 impressed with its crash protection, achieving a 92 per cent rating, with ANCAP highlighting a well-designed vehicle structure and restraints.ANCAP said the B05 demonstrated capability in the safe driving category, which evaluates driver assist features and hazard awareness, but it said there was room for improvement. The Geely EX2 has already proven to be one of the most popular EVs so far, with the compact hatch amassing nearly 500 registrations in August, having only gone on sale in late July. It is priced as one of the cheapest electric cars on sale, starting from just $26,490 (before on-road costs), putting it into competition with the BYD Atto 1 (from $23,990) and larger GAC Aion UT (from $31,990). The EX2 was awarded a five-star rating from ANCAP, with the watchdog praising its monitoring system that detects occupants wearing their seatbelts incorrectly. ANCAP also said its active safety software, including auto emergency braking and lane keep assist performed well, while it wasn’t so successful in some low-speed situations. The EX2 provided good protection in front and side impact collisions despite an elevated risk of driver leg injury in frontal offset testing. Pedestrian and other road user safety was impressive on the EX2, according to ANCAP, praising its small size and increased front crush space in the absence of an engine. ANCAP’s Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg said these results demonstrate cheaper EVs shouldn’t mean they are less safe. “These results show that choosing a more affordable electric vehicle doesn’t have to mean compromising on safety, Ms Hoorweg said.”“The Leapmotor B05 and Geely EX2 have got the fundamentals right, delivering good crash protection, effective crash avoidance technology and important safety features as standard.“With more brands and models entering the Australian and New Zealand markets, safety is another area where manufacturers need to compete.”

Tesla has recalled nearly three million cars in China in the country's biggest recall ever.This recall impacts flush door handles on more than four million cars from not just Tesla but Geely, Xiaomi and XPeng, too.Flush door handles became popular in part thanks to Tesla. Some only pop out when required, as opposed to conventional handles, which can always be used.The trend took off in China, and features on many cars built in the country now.They have now been found to be a serious safety concern following several incidents globally, with this recall the latest step to curb risk.This recall has been brought about by two fatal Xiaomi crashes in China, among many other incidents.The two Xiaomi incidents are suspected to have been caused by power failures preventing car doors from being able to be opened.Tesla accepted in a statement that interior door handles are “difficult to identify and operate because their colour is similar to the interior trim.”“In extreme situations such as a severe collision causing the vehicle's low-voltage system to fail, this could hinder occupants from quickly opening the doors to escape and impede rescue efforts by those outside the vehicle, posing a safety hazard,” the statement continued.Recalled vehicles will be fitted with a physical warning label on the interior door and receive a software update to automatically lower the windows in a crash.The Chinese government passed legislation to ban flush door handles earlier this year that will kick in from 1 January 2027. Cars will only be allowed to be sold in China if they have a mechanical release inside and outside. It’s not just China where flush door handles are of concern. The BBC reports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the United States have anecdotes of the door handles not working and leaving children trapped in cars. The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) is Australia's vehicle safety watchdog.ANCAP’s Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg told CarsGuide earlier this year the body would stick with its current review cycle, but still monitor design developments across all markets. ANCAP recently introduced its 2026 protocols with a bigger focus on preventing crashes rather than just impact testing.The banning of flush door handles will be felt around the world, including Australia, where many cars built in China are sold, both from Chinese and international brands.New cars imported from China to Australia will no longer feature flush door handles from 2027.

Car makers are always coming up with new features in the name of making our driving time more comfortable, convenient or safe but sometimes the result is the opposite.Yep, as car reviewers there’s a list of well known, very annoying features that we could really do without.So here’s a quick collection of the most annoying new car features... and please feel free to add your own to this never ending list. Massive glass roofs look amazing in a car dealer’s showroom but on the road during an Australian summer they make you feel like a rotisserie chicken - not to mention the dangers of sun exposure in this part of the world. Thankfully some roofs have retractable shades and some have decently thick ones to cut down the light and heat. The Tesla Model Y has an expansive fixed glass roof and no screen to shield its occupants from that furnace in the sky.This sounds super irresponsible to anybody who hasn't experienced the nightmarish intrusiveness of modern safety alerts that are supposedly designed to reduce speeding and distraction, but trust us..We’re talking about speed warning alarms, which activate at 2km/h over the posted speed limit (often falsely), distraction alerts that are triggered by the driver looking out for pedestrians and overly aggressive lane keeping assistance that feels like a sudden arm wrestle. The systems in our opinion become potentially a safety issue in themselves.Kia and Hyundai have been criticised in the past especially for over zealous safety alert systems, but pretty much every new car now has them - some worse than others.Do you know how many people used to say, “I wish my car’s door handles weren’t so easy to use, I want something that’s awkward and confusing to operate, something so flimsy it feels like it might snap off in my hand”? I’ll tell you - nobody.With the advent of electric vehicles came door handles that retracted flush with the car’s body to improve aerodynamics and in turn energy efficiency, which is all very good but it came at the price of functionality. Is it really necessary - I mean you can’t tell me regular door handles create that much drag?  Possibly the worst door handles I’ve ever encountered are on the Cadillac Optic. They’re as thin as a pencil and make opening the Cadillac super heavy doors ridiculously difficult.Another case of re-inventing something that wasn’t broken, the camera wing mirror is more a case of car designers saying "look at what we can do" rather than actually improving upon the simplicity and effectiveness of a piece of shiny glass.Hyundai's Ioniq 5 and Gensis GV60 can be had with camera mirrors - yeah, no thanks!Can’t wait for my bathroom mirror to be replaced by a camera and a screen.Anyone that’s needed to get something from the boot in a hurry because it's raining but had to stand there getting soaked waiting for the electric tailgate to slowly open, will tell you that it would have been quicker to open it themselves. And as for the gesture tailgates that require a swoosh with your foot top open - they seem to work about 50 per cent of the time.  An all-time low for me and gesture tailgates was when I was trying to take a Christmas tree out from the boot of a Mazda CX-70 and somehow my moving foot told it to start shutting without me realising it until it closed down on me. The car basically ate me alive. Car companies have tried to integrate digital assistants into their cars to carry out functions such as opening the windows or lowering the cabin temperature.The problem is getting the voice assistant to listen to you, understand you or even do anything is almost impossible which is a lot like being the parent of a teenager.Myself and the rest of the motoring media are to blame for encouraging car companies to do away with easy-to-use buttons and dials and move all the functions to a screen that forces the driver to step through three pages of a menu just to turn the climate control down. Yes, for years we praised cabins with “minimalist interiors” and “cleanly designed, button-less dash boards”. Well careful what you wish for, because now all I want is a knob for the stereo volume.  The Geely EX5 has a very cleanly designed button-less dash, which isn't a good thing after all.Some cars play little musical greetings when you sit down in the driver's seat. I find these as enjoyable to listen to as those birthday cards that play songs.As with door handles and wing mirrors, steering wheels never needed re-inventing but again and again car companies try to do so. Peugeot, Subaru and Geely have dabbled with not-round steering wheels but the worst we've seen is possibly the yoke in the new Lexus RZ550e F Sport. Seriously car companies - stop it. Ok there’s so many more features I loathe but let's end on a really good one - tyre puncture repair kits. These usually involve a small compressor and canister of goo which is used to fill a flat tyre sealing the puncture and have you on your way.Sounds great, but it isn't. I’ve been on the side of the road in the bush with a puncture and used the repair kit only to watch all the good squirt out through the hole in my tyre sealing nothing but my opinions on how useless these devices can be.

Nowadays, Australia may host more car brands than ever before, but we miss out on some very cool models.That’s because of a uniquely regional Australian Design Rule (ADR) requirement that can cost upwards of $5 million to implement for each series.Known as ADR 34/03, it stipulates that three top tether anchorage points must be fitted across each rear-seat position. But it can also create years of delays and blow out business cases due to the subsequent expenses involved.Probably the most disappointing recent example has been the Renault 5 E-Tech.Wooing buyers and critics alike, this award-winning electric vehicle (EV) hatchback has been a smash hit in Europe, melding desirable retro design with cutting-edge yet affordable tech.However, as CarsGuide outlined earlier this year, Renault importer Ateco Automotive may not even bother releasing the 5 E-Tech into Australia because it cannot afford the extra millions necessary for it to comply with ADR 34/03. The maths just doesn’t add up. Such a pity.The same also applies to the Renault 4 E-Tech, a larger and more crossover-style EV wagon that, though not as racy as its closely related 5 E-Tech sibling, possesses family friendly packaging that might make it a more-practical proposition.But all is not lost.Unlike the 5 E-Tech which, despite its diminutive supermini proportions, is only available as a full-fledged five-seater hatch, the 4 E-Tech can be ordered as a two-seater panel van dubbed the Société Van that ditches the back row.Since this eliminates the need to comply with ADR 34/03, it begs the question: why can’t Ateco simply import the 4 E-Tech Société as a commercial vehicle? Post-sale, owners could then add a rear seat if desired, fitted to specification by a vehicle engineering firm in Australia.This was widely done in the 1980s, notably with smaller Japanese cars like the Suzuki 800 hatch (1980), Daihatsu Handivan (1981) and Honda City (1984). Each one was only officially imported as a two-seater van.However, according to Renault Australia General Manager, Glen Sealey, importing the 4 E-Tech Société is unlikely, given the extreme niche that passenger-car-based vans would occupy, adding that the Kangoo commercial vehicle broadly fills a similar role.“We haven't looked at that as a solution, because for us, we've got the Kangoo,” he told CarsGuide at the Renault Master large van launch in Sydney last month.“And that small panel van passenger car market is negligible (in size) … it would be higher cost, for low reward.”This is in spite of the wider Renault brand portfolio actually already offering a number of car-based panel vans in right-hand-drive (RHD) Ireland.“That RHD European market does utilise a typical passenger vehicle for (small panel van) commercial use,” Sealey said.“They do it in the Duster (small SUV). They do with the Sandero (small car). They do it with Megane E-Tech.”Sealey added that companies, not individuals, are buying electric vans in Australia, and they would not go for passenger-car-derived alternatives, that tend to attract individuals running small businesses.“The tradie is not buying electric,” he said. The corporate market is, and the corporate market is buying a larger van.”