What is VSB1?

This bulletin is intended to assist manufacturers of trailers with an aggregate trailer mass of 4.5 tonnes or less to understand the Australian Design Rule (ADR) requirements applying to the most common types of trailers that meet this condition.

Under the Road Vehicle Standards legislation, trailers with an aggregate trailer mass of 4.5 tonnes or less are expected to comply with the applicable ADRs. Not all trailers with an aggregate trailer mass of 4.5 tonnes or less will need to comply with the same ADRs or ADR requirements. ADR requirements are likely to change from time to time. The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (the department) publishes an applicability table for trailers setting out when ADRs become applicable for each trailer category. It can be found on the department’s website.

The content of the ADRs is periodically reviewed. In the event that VSB1 becomes inconsistent with the applicable ADRs, the ADRs take precedence. To ensure that you are using the current version of VSB1, please refer to the online version of this document.

You can download a copy of VSB1 (Rev 6) here.