Brake 'time bombs' on roads

Mechanics and vehicle inspectors believe that lax warrant of fitness brake tests are allowing "time bombs" back on to New Zealand's roads.

Auckland mechanic Murray Fell said while he could fail a WoF check for a blown number plate bulb, when it came to poor brakes there was nothing he could do to keep "time bombs" off the road.

Mr Fell, owner of Landscape Cars in Hillsborough, said he was frustrated at Land Transport NZ's lack of interest in addressing a key shortcoming of the checks, which could prove fatal.

Garages and WoF inspection sites cannot remove a vehicle's wheels and rule on the state of its brake pads, brake shoes, rotor thickness, wheel cylinders, and the brake fluid's boiling point - all of which could cause brake failure.

Mr Fell said he was most concerned about the boiling point of brake fluid. "It can mean the difference between you and me living and dying." Testing it should be mandatory in any WoF inspection, he said.

"We do approximately 200 checks a month. Out of that 30 per cent [of cars] go out of here with things that should be failed. But we're not allowed to fail them, we can only note them."

A spokesman for Takapuna Wheel Alignment and Service Centre backed the call for more thorough brake inspections. Without removing wheels technicians were taking "a bit of a guess", he said.

"If someone goes out and wraps themselves around a powerpole the first guys they [crash investigators] come looking for are the people who gave the warrant."

However, Vehicle Inspection NZ marketing manager Renee Campbell-Scott said her company saw no problem with WoF brake tests, which were visual only. More rigorous testing would mean greater equipment expenses, particularly for smaller operators, she said.

Mr Fell said Land Transport NZ recently told him WoF tests were only an indication, and keeping a car safe was the vehicle owner's responsibility.

His garage had since introduced a voluntary brake check at an extra cost of $15, but Mr Fell denied it was a way of drumming up business.

"Anyone who knows me knows that I wouldn't do it for that. I'm not interested in the extra revenue, I'm interested in you driving from Auckland to Wellington without your brakes failing."

Land Transport NZ spokeswoman Janice Rodenburg said the authority was satisfied the brake check was adequate "for the purposes of the WoF which is a general safety check at a point in time ... We consider vehicle owners are responsible for ongoing maintenance."

Brake failure contributed to 36 of the 10,210 injury crashes in 2003, and three of 405 fatal crashes.