PHH Vehicle Management Services has called on car manufacturers to fit built-in hands-free kits for mobile phones as standard in all new cars. The call comes as the debate over the safety of car drivers using mobile phones on the move intensifies.

If hand-free kits were fitted as standard for all cars on the production line, only adapters for company car drivers' specific phones would need to be fitted at the time of the vehicle being delivered, according to PHH, which claims additional manufacturing costs would be minimal.

PHH managing director David Knight said: 'The technology is there, the need is there, but currently the car manufacturers are not. The fleet buyers of this world will surely beat a path to the door of the first manufacturer to acknowledge the importance and safety benefits of such equipment.'

Ford offers a manufacturer-provided built-in mobile phone as a £115 (ex-VAT) option on Scorpio and Mondeo as well as some other models. Vauxhall's top of the range Omega Elite features a built-in hand-free kit as standard, while on the remainder of the Omega line-up and the Vectra range it was a £450 or £375 option depending on the provider but prices would be reduced on 1998 model year vehicles. Neither Rover nor Peugeot cars incorporate such a facilities.