Brown Davis Roll Bar Minor Defect Notice

[decitex64]

This afternoon the victorian constabulary issued me with a minor defect notice for the BD Cams approved roll bar as fitted on my NA6.
It seems it is a requirements that high impact foam padding must be fitted around the head area; by head area they said anywhere your head could hit the bar.
I can buy some roll cage padding from MX5 Centre / Revolution Race Gear etc. and secure it with cable ties before presenting to Vic Roads.
Does this however mean that the complete roll bar must be padded i.e. the hoop, diagonal and both back stays?
Look forward to some advice.

[Guran]

I'm not an expert on this but found the following information in the Vehicle Standards Bulletin 14, National Code of Practice for Light Vehicle Construction and Modification (NCOP).
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/ ... _ncop.aspx

5 PADDING REQUIREMENTS"]
All sections of the roll-over protection system in the passenger area that lie within the defined
head space area (refer to sub-section 2 of Code LK8 and figure LK15) between 710mm and
835mm or which are 150mm or less from an occupants head must be covered by padding
that meets the padding specifications detailed in Appendix B Foam Padding for Occupant
Protection in Section LZ Appendices.

The following materials and thicknesses may be used as they have been shown to meet the
performance requirement:
 semi-rigid moulded polyurethane (approximate density 300 kg/m3), 25mm thick;
 self-skinning rigid moulded polyurethane (approximate density 300 kg/m3), 25mm thick;
 closed-cell polyethylene foam (approximate density 300 kg/m3), 25mm thick; and
 closed-cell EVA foam (approximate density 300 kg/m3), 25mm thick.

It appears that any part of the rollbar must be padded if it's within 150mm of your head when the seat is fully back and set at 25 degrees to vertical. But like I said, I'm no expert and you should seek advice from VicRoads.

[decitex64]

Thanks Guran.
Just measured the 15cm. requirement mentioned and it looks like i will have to pad the whole bar pretty much.
Will double check with VicRoads on Monday.
Was surprised BD, Bayswater didnt mention anything to me about padding when they installed the roll bar back in 2009.
Cheers
George

[Guran]

Section LK covering roll-bars was totally revised in January 2011. Prior to that it was pretty vague regarding padding requirements.

I'm interested to hear what VicRoads have to say so please post the news after you've talked to them.

[decitex64]

Update.
The Vicroads inspector laughed so hard whilst inspecting my newly padded roll bar this morning.
Said they had never heard of such a requirement and had never seen a padded roll bar presented for inspection before.
Needless to say the minor defect notice was cleared immediately; but interestingly stays on their system records.
Hmmmm....

[deviant]

Update.
The Vicroads inspector laughed so hard whilst inspecting my newly padded roll bar this morning.
Said they had never heard of such a requirement and had never seen a padded roll bar presented for inspection before.
Needless to say the minor defect notice was cleared immediately; but interestingly stays on their system records.
Hmmmm....

Good to see we are still dealing with well trained individuals who know the laws surrounding vehicle modifications