By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
VOLKSWAGEN Australia has denied any correlation between the coronial inquest into the death of a Berwick driver and the recall of 25,000 of its cars earlier this year.
The response comes after Coroner Heather Spooner found no evidence to indicate Melissa Ryan’s death was caused by her Volkswagen Golf losing power just before it was hit by a truck.
Delivering her findings on Friday, Ms Spooner said 32-year-old Ms Ryan was most likely distracted by a mobile phone conversation when her Volkswagen Golf was hit from behind by a B-double prime mover truck travelling eastbound on the Monash Freeway and crashed into the barrier near Huntingdale Road on Monday 31 January 2011.
In a statement released on Friday Volkswagen Group Australia acknowledged the Coroner’s findings that the vehicle did not contribute to the cause of the accident.
“Volkswagen Group Australia would like to reiterate that there is no correlation between the coronial inquest and the recent reports concerning the current transmission recalls,” the statement said.
“The vehicle at the centre of the coronial Inquest had a manual transmission with no identified issues while the recalls only relate to certain Volkswagen vehicles with DSG transmissions.”
The finding comes after the court received a letter of concern from Ms Ryan’s family in July 2011 which suggested her vehicle had inexplicably slowed down and that a plausible explanation was vehicle malfunction.
The coronial investigation into Ms Ryan’s death led to a host of Volkswagen drivers claiming they had experienced losing power in their cars, after which the car manufacturer recalled more than 25,000 vehicles across Victoria.
Ms Spooner said there was no fault detected in Ms Ryan’s car but it was impossible to investigate further because the car was destroyed in December 2011, which eliminated the ability to conduct further examinations.
Ms Spooner drew on the evidence of Sergeant Peter Bellion, of Victoria Police’s major collision investigations unit, that the probable cause of the crash was that Ms Ryan did not adjust her driving to the traffic around her because she was distracted by a hands-free phone conversation.
Ivan Mumford, the driver of the truck which hit Ms Ryan’s Volkswagen, was advised in a police interview in March 2011 that he might be charged with careless driving but the charge was never pursued by Victoria Police.
Ms Spooner recommended that VicRoads consider amending road regulations to prohibit the use of mobile phones by drivers in moving vehicles.
