As a key part of the cooperative national road transport reform process a number of jurisdictions implemented increases in mass limits for heavy vehicles fitted with road friendly suspension on some routes (there will also be a mass management accreditation requirement for tri-axle vehicles).
To facilitate identification of vehicles with road friendly suspension the National Transport Commission (NTC) has developed a performance standard for road friendly suspension and Vehicle Safety Standards (VSS) has developed an administrative system for suspension manufacturers to seek certification of their suspensions to that standard.
Details of the certification system are given in Vehicle Standards Bulletin (VSB) No.11—Certification of Road-Friendly Suspensions PDF: 326 KB DOCX: 136 KB
Overview of the system
To obtain certification for a suspension model as a Road-Friendly Suspension the suspension supplier must register themselves with VSS GPO Box 594, Canberra City, ACT 2601 unless already registered in the Road Vehicle Certification System (RVCS).
On registration VSS will provide a password to access the electronic templates for submitting an application.
A certificate will be issued within 28 days of receipt of a complete and correct application.
Any queries may be directed to (02) 6274 7766 or faxed to (02) 6274 7477 or e-mailed to rvcs@infrastructure.gov.au.
The Road-Friendly Suspension certificate is issued under the condition that records are retained to verify that the certified suspensions are road-friendly.
A listing of certified Road-Friendly Suspensions is available on our website.
State and Territory vehicle registering authorities may require marking and/or labelling of vehicles fitted with a Road-Friendly Suspension and may also conduct in-service checks to assess whether suspensions certified as road-friendly continue to perform as intended.
Where a certified suspension model is found to be not road-friendly or where there is insufficient assurance that it is road-friendly the Road-Friendly Suspension certificate issued may be varied suspended or cancelled.
This may also result in the removal of any increased mass previously permitted to be carried on the basis of the suspension being certified as road-friendly.