Australia: Updates of several Australian Design Rules (ADRs)

 

Recently, 2 amendment packages were signed in Australia to update a number of existing Australian Design Rules (ADRs).

The purpose of these amending instruments is to ensure national road vehicle standards are accurate, fit-for-purpose and harmonised with international regulations where possible.

The ADR Alternative Standard Amendments 2025 and ADR Amendment Instrument No. 1 of 2025 packages have been published on the Federal Register of Legislation and are now in effect.

Alternative standards

The Alternative Standard Amendments 2025 package came into effect on Wednesday 4 February 2026. The purpose of this package is to harmonise the following vehicle standards with international vehicle regulations:

• ADR 3/04 – Seats and Seat Anchorages
• ADR 4/06 – Seatbelts
• ADR 5/06 – Anchorages for Seatbelts
• ADR 14/03 – Devices for Indirect Vision
• ADR 18/03 – Instrumentation
• ADR 92/00 – External Projections
• ADR 93/00 – Forward Field of View

The amending instrument updates the accepted alternative standards for each of the above ADRs to include more recent series of United Nations (UN) Regulation amendments. It also makes other minor editorial changes to align these ADRs with the drafting practices, technical requirements and clauses of relevant UN Regulations.

Clarifications and corrections

The Amendment Instrument No. 1 of 2025 package commenced on Saturday 6 December 2025. It introduces amendments for 3 ADRs and minor corrections for an additional 6 ADRs to address typographical and formatting errors.

ADR amendments included in this package:

• ADR – Definitions and Vehicle Categories 2005 has been amended to clarify specific components that are excluded from the ‘Ground Clearance’ measurement.
• ADR 42/05 – General Safety Requirements has been amended to update the requirement for electrical installations to meet the latest Australian Standard AS/NZ 3001.2:2022.
• ADR 44/02 – Specific Purpose Vehicle Requirements has been amended so that it no longer applies to taxis, and the requirements for these vehicles set out in clause 44.3 is no longer in use.

ADRs amended to correct minor errors:

• ADR 3/03 – Seats and Seat Anchorages
• ADR 5/04 – Anchorages for Seatbelts
• ADR 23/01 – Passenger Car Tyres
• ADR 42/04 – General Safety Requirements
• ADR 82/00 – Engine Immobilisers
• ADR 84/00 – Front Underrun Impact Protection

This amending instrument also makes minor editorial changes to all the above standards to better align with how ADRs and UN Regulations are currently written. For example, cross-referencing UN Regulations by ‘paragraph’ rather than the ‘clause’, ‘section’ or ‘part’.

Upcoming ADR applicability dates

The below requirements come into effect for new model vehicles in 2026.

• ADR 81/03 – Fuel and Energy Consumption Labelling for Light Vehicles will apply to all new model MA, MB, MC, MD and NA category vehicles from 1 July 2026.
• ADR 99/01 – Lane Departure Warning Systems will apply to all new model MD, NB and NC category vehicles from 1 September 2026.
• ADR 68/01 – Occupant Protection in Buses will apply to all new model MD3, MD4 and ME category vehicles from 1 November 2026.
• ADR 72/01 – Dynamic Side Impact Occupant Protection will apply to certain new model battery electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles in MA, MB, MC and NA vehicle categories from 1 November 2026.

The below requirements come into effect for all models in 2026.

• ADR 98/01 – Advanced Emergency Braking for Passenger Vehicles and Light Vehicles will apply to all MA, MB, MC and NA category vehicles from 1 August 2026.
• ADR 110/00 – Hydrogen-Fuelled Vehicles Safety Related Performance will apply to all MA, MB, MC, MD, ME, NA, NB and NC category vehicles fitted with a compressed hydrogen storage system from 1 November 2026.
• ADR 113/00 – Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems for Quiet Road Transport Vehicles will apply to all electrified MA, MB, MC, MD, ME, NA, NB and NC category vehicles from 1 November 2026.

To find out more about vehicle regulations in Australia, please do not hesitate to contact the Institute for Global Automotive Regulatory Research.