PLUGS & LEADS
ANTI-MODDING THREAT RECEDES
Regular readers will be aware of the alarm initially raised after the publication by the Department for Transport’s Future of Transport Regulatory Review.
Designed primarily to future-proof vehicle regulatory standards in the light of expected technical developments in fields like autonomous driving and safety systems, the proposal aims to overhaul legislation surrounding road vehicles to “address areas of transport regulation that are outdated, a barrier to innovation, or not designed with new technologies and business models in mind.”
However, some aspects of the proposals had set alarm bells ringing among enthusiasts of both classic cars and modified vehicles. Alongside legislation allowing low-volume or prototype vehicles to be more easily approved for use on public roads in order to adopt emerging technologies, the proposals also contain a subject specifically devoted to “Tackling tampering” and it’s this which had got the old car movement concerned.
“We will create new offences for tampering with a system, part or component of a vehicle intended or adapted to be used on a road,” states the proposal and it’s clear from the details that this is intended to prevent modification of safety systems on new vehicles, but clearly if it were to be applied retrospectively it would have an undesirable effect on the classic car hobby.
After all, how many classic cars can be honestly said to remain in exactly the form in which they originally left the factory? Engine upgrades, alloy wheels and even
