One in ten cars that passed their MOT last year should have FAILED
One in 10 cars passing MOT should EXPIRE: Garages are ‘missing’ an alarming number of ‘potentially dangerous defects’, report finds
- DVSA found that 12.2% of MOT test results in 2021-22 were incorrect
- About 2.1% of the cars rejected by garages should have received a pass certificate
- Worryingly, 10.1% were deemed to be suitable for the road, but DVSA found that this was not the case
According to a study, one in ten cars that passed the MOT last year should have been rejected because garages do not comply with the government’s strict testing standards.
Analysis of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) most recent MOT compliance survey for 2021-2022 found that 10.1 percent of cars deemed roadworthy by testers should have failed the annual check.
This was equivalent to nearly 1.3 million potentially unsafe motorcycles on Britain’s roads, many of which had dangerous defects that were ‘missed’ by garages.
MOT concerns: Analysis of a DVSA survey of MOT testing found that 10.1% of cars that had passed through UK garages should have failed – and a further 2.1% had failed but should not have
As part of the DVSA’s annual survey, a team of experts from the agency retests a randomly selected sample of vehicles to verify that MOTs are performed correctly.
Last year, a total of 1,732 APK-approved cars were re-inspected by the agency to get better understand whether accurate testing standards are being applied by the industry.
The report confirmed that the DVLA’s panel of examiners disagreed with the test results in 12.2 percent of cases reviewed.
Of these, 2.1 percent were cars rejected by garages, but DVSA experts said they should have been given a pass certificate.
However, it was the remaining 10.1 percent that was of the greatest concern, as these are vehicles that have been found fit for the road, when in fact they do not meet the rigorous standards set out in the annual review.
In almost two-thirds of the re-inspected vehicles (65.9 percent), the DVSA found at least one defect that the APK inspection station had overlooked or incorrectly registered.
Of the 1,142 vehicles with flagged issues, more than half (51.6 percent) had three more missed defects or issues that DVSA’s team of investigators disagreed with.
Tires were the component area with the highest number of defects it disagreed with, at 734, followed by brakes (660) and suspension (642).
This comes after a recent study by the RAC revealed that around 7.3 million vehicles on our roads each year fail their MOT, with around 2.4 million cars and vans identified as having dangerous brakes and/or tyres.
What Car?, which analyzed the DVSA’s latest report, confirms that the 1,732 car re-inspections resulted in 27 disciplinary actions against garages.
In another 164 cases, advisory warning letters were sent to APK inspection locations.
Steve Huntingford, editor of What Car?, said the research “highlights the differences between the official technical standards for vehicles and those used by some in the industry.”
He added: “With safety-critical components such as tires and brakes at the top of the list of missed defects, serious road safety issues may be at play.
“It may seem beneficial to owners to have their vehicle inspected by a favorable garage, but the test is there to provide a minimum of vehicle safety.”
A DVSA spokesperson commented on the What Car? review: ‘Our MOT Compliance Survey is an essential tool in making our roads the safest in Europe.
‘The vast majority of APK inspectors carry out inspections according to the highest standards. Our research focuses on a random selection of vehicles and aims to identify any problems with the MOT inspection so that we can correct them.
“We are pleased to see that standards have improved since the last report.
“This underscores the importance of DVSA taking action on the research results and supporting testers with new digital tools, as well as demonstrating the hard work of APK testers.”
The report comes just over a month after the first phase of the government’s controversial proposal to delay MOT tests by 12 months came to an end.
A consultation with the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management about extending the first MOT from three to four years – and possibly testing every two years instead of once thereafter – was launched in January and concluded at the end of March.
MEPs started the consultation with the belief that delaying the first MOT will collectively save motorists more than £100 million a year and have little or no impact on road safety figures.
While the findings have already been published, any decision to adjust MOT schedules would be the biggest shakeup in decades.