Volkswagen’s ‘RooBadge’ Will Turn An Amarok Into A Giant Kangaroo Repeller

It’s no secret that Australia is full of creatures trying to make your life a misery. Spiders. Snakes. Jellyfish. Wombats. Wait, no, they’re really cute.

It’s not just the bitey, stingy, spitty ones that pose a danger, though. The friendly kangaroo can also be a real menace, and not just because they have a mighty kick on them if they feel threatened. According to Australia’s Kangaroo Management Taskforce, around 7000 insurance claims nationwide are made annually relating to road collisions with bouncy marsupials.

Clearly, Volkswagen’s Australian division has seen enough, because it’s developing a special version of its badge that serves as a ‘protective audio shield’, intended to deter ’roos from straying onto the nation’s roads. Yep, we’ve checked and we’re still a few days away from 1 April.

It’s being developed alongside the University of Melbourne and WIRES, an animal protection charity, and is planned to initially be available as an accessory for the Amarok pickup (or ute, to go with the local dialect). It replaces the regular VW badge with one with a built-in speaker that plays “meaningful sounds to kangaroos” – these apparently include bird alarm calls, predatory noises and the sounds of other kangaroos stamping their feet.

It’s not yet on sale, but once available will apparently easily replace the standard VW badge on the Amarok. Volkswagen is also developing a universally mountable version to fit on any vehicle. It’s GPS-equipped and will change the noise it makes depending on location, with a particular focus on deer in Europe and North America, which will be a relief to anyone who’s driven through the British countryside at night.

Should it work, it’ll certainly be a more humane method of protecting your car from kangaroo damage than the traditional Aussie method – the ’roo bar. Now, can we get a Britain-specific version that stops pheasants from being such feathery idiots?