Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) monitoring and (b) enforcement mechanisms are in place to ensure manufacturers comply with the prohibition on pause functions in Audible Vehicle Alert Systems for new (i) electric and (ii) hybrid vehicles registered from 1 September 2023.

All new vehicles are subject to type approval. Vehicle approval requirements were introduced on 1 July 2021 mandating Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) on new types of quiet electric and hybrid vehicles. The use of pause switched to temporarily disable the AVAS have been prohibited for new vehicles being placed on the market from September 2023. Vehicles sold prior to these dates are only required to meet the approval requirements mandated at the time they were placed on the market.

The department does not have any figures for the number of vehicles with AVAS, or that have a pause switch.

As part of compliance and enforcement, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s Market Surveillance Unit (MSU) inspects and tests vehicles and components on the market to ensure they comply with environmental and safety standards. The MSU conducts an annual programme of surveillance, including physical tests and inspections, as well as responding to intelligence provided by industry or the general public.