Breathing through a straw

The must-have item for any ute or 4WD is currently a snorkel fitted to the A-pillar, which is an extension of the air intake designed to enable the driver to negotiate particularly treacherous floods and river crossings, without sucking water into the engine. This is especially helpful in the local drive-thru or supermarket carpark, where most snorkel-equipped vehicles spend their time.

Until recently, there was no allowance in the Light Vehicle Repair VIRM Threshold for the fitment of a snorkel, meaning there was no clear answer as to whether a snorkel required LVV certification. However, in an effort to assist the growing number of underwater driving enthusiasts, in April 2021 a section was added to the Threshold describing how a snorkel fitted to a vehicle could avoid LVV certification. Unfortunately, even with the best intentions to help provide an easy recipe for a vehicle to stay under Threshold, the way the Threshold is worded has instead created further confusion for AVIs.

In the VIRM (under In-service (Wof and CoF), General vehicles, Vehicle structure, Section 3-1, Tables and images), Snorkels), the Threshold specifies that a snorkel fitted to a vehicle does not require LVV certification provided that:

• the snorkel is fitted only to the outer skin of the A-pillar (not into the central structure), and

• the fixings are of an appropriate size, and

• the fixings are sealed to prevent water ingress into the A-pillar, and

• appropriate rust treatment is applied to prevent corrosion.

Note: it is recommended that snorkels are fitted with high strength adhesives rather than screws.

The eagle-eyed reader may notice a couple of things in that list that are not so easy to check as part of a WoF inspection, given that this is entirely visual. The first clause states that LVV certification is not required for fitment of a snorkel, provided that “the snorkel is fitted only to the outer skin of the A-pillar (not into the central structure)”. Drilling or cutting the inner A-pillar structure would weaken the pillar, so LVV certification would be required to ensure any strength lost has been adequately reinstated. In terms of checking this for a WoF, either the AVI or the vehicle owner may need to produce evidence in terms of the structure that the snorkel attaches to, as it’s not likely that this will be able to be checked visually. Some vehicles do not have an inner A-pillar structure, which creates further confusion. Technically though, a snorkel affixed to the outer skin of the A-pillar should still meet the wording.

The second clause states “the fixings are of an appropriate size”, which is a bit simpler. A snorkel attached to the A-pillar with countersunk wood screws wouldn’t be considered appropriate, nor would a snorkel held on with shoelaces, bailing twine, household sticky tape, or cable ties. Most off-theshelf snorkel kits come with appropriate fasteners, which are usually rivnut inserts and bolts in M6 or M8 size, or button- head rivets. This leads into the third and fourth clauses, which specify that the fixings must be “sealed to prevent water ingress”, and that “appropriate rust treatment is applied.” In which case, there should be no bare metal visible around the fixings, and an AVI would be expecting to see (where possible) evidence of silicone sealant or similar in the holes made in the A-pillar for the fixings.

The note at the end of the Threshold section on snorkels is probably the best solution for a person wanting to fit a snorkel to a vehicle – using highstrength adhesives rather than cutting and drilling removes any doubt about whether the snorkel attachment has affected the structure of the A-pillar. This also simplifies things at WoF time, and makes life easier for both the vehicle owner and AVI.

Other aspects

There are a couple of other aspects of snorkel fitment not covered specifically by the snorkel Threshold wording, but it’s important that these are also considered when inspecting a snorkel-equipped vehicle.

The first of these relates to how the air intake passes through the inner guard to the engine bay - if a hole has been bored for the air intake piping, this can affect the vehicle structure. For this, the relevant part of the Threshold to consider would be further down under Note 11, in Figure 3-1-2 which describes the parts of the vehicle the VIRM considers to be ‘structural’. In essence, to stay under Threshold the air intake piping needs to pass through an OE hole or aperture in the inner guard structure, as any cutting or drilling of an area shaded grey in Figure 3-1-2 would tip the vehicle into needing LVV certification. A tell-tale sign of an OE hole in an inner guard is that this would usually have a stamped recess, or folded rebate section around the circumference of the hole. The second aspect (which also isn’t mentioned) is that a snorkel and its attachments need to meet any other applicable External Projections Threshold requirements – so it can’t increase the risk of hooking or grazing a person, or stick out so far that it exceeds maximum vehicle width allowances.

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