As I understand it in Victoria you have to comply with all current ADR's at the time of registration. However you get three years "grace" from the "major" start point of the build, so say you purchase your chassis in Jan 2011 and then an ADR changes in June 2012, and you register in Jan 2014, you would not have to comply with the changed ADR from June 2012 because it changed within three years of your initial "major" purchase. If your three years runs out before reg then you can apply (through engineer) for an extension. Of course this is only relevant if there are actually ADR changes while you are building.
Putting it more simply, you need to comply with what was current at time of chassis purchase, but once 3 years has gone unless you get an extension then you need to comply with whatever has become current at the time of reg. Again, this is for Victoria, and is my understanding.
So for me the only way my Smart seats will run out is if I am not registered by September 2014 (chassis purchased September 2011) AND the ADR changes AND the seats do not comply with what will presumably be ADR3/04.
If the ADR doesn't change, then the seats will stay current until it does, and even if it does change it does not mean they become null and void depending on what changes in the ADR. When ADR3/02 was revised to 3/03 the only change was relating to the headrests and height, which is why the Smart seats are legal now even though the design has not changed since the 3/02 days - even the 3/02 ones meet the 3/03 specifications.
Not sure why you're confused Dave
