NCT centres failed to see faults in 1 in 40 vehicles
Audit reveals motoring tests tally
ONE in every 40 inspections at National Car Test centres last year failed to identify a serious defect or at least six minor vehicle problems.
A report revealed 2.4% of tests carried out by NCT staff on a sample of 5,800 cars in 2019 were rated as “unacceptable”.
The audit, on behalf of the Road Safety Authority, identified poor performance by workers in their failure to identify serious faults with 139 vehicles.
Problems not spotted included bulges on tyres, different tyre sizes, damaged brake lines and broken seat buckles.
Other faults unnoticed were worn a n t i - r o l l b a r l i n k s , damaged suspension springs and corrosion.
I n s p e c t i o n s o n another 54 vehicl es failed to identify up to four minor problems in each case.
The R S A s ai d al l cases where an assessment was rated poor or unacceptable was f lagged with the inspector, the test centre team and management at Applus Car Testing Service, which operates NCT.
A RSA spokesperson said the independent assessment of NCT test inspectors was carried out across all centres.
He added: “The oversight role of the NCT is taken very seriously by the RSA.”
And he said the audit rated 97% of all assessed tests across the network of 47 NCT centres last year as “very good”.
In 2018, Applus was sued by the family of Cork woman Amanda O’flaherty, who was killed in a car accident in 2012. She died as a result of her vehicle’s faulty suspension which had not been spotted when it was submitted for a NCT test by its previous owner months earlier.
Applus only withdrew i t s appeal against an order by Cork Circuit Civil Court to pay Ms O’ Flaherty ’s family compensation of € 31,000 late last year.
The results of 50 tests assessed by auditors l ast year were reversed as a result of either failure items being omitted or included in error.
Almost 2.1 million tests were carried out at NCT centres in 2019, including 1.39 million full tests. Overall results show 50% of all vehicles failed the main test, while 11.2% failed a lane re- test.
A t ot a l of 9 2 , 5 2 3 vehicles were identified as being dangerously defective and given a “fail- dangerous” rating – 6.7% of the total.
In 37,933 cases, the problem was a visual defect which meant it should also have been spied by the owner.
The audit report shows 2,527 were still classified as having a major safety issue following a lane re- test.
The NCT centre with the lowest share of v e hi c l e s d e e med unro a dwor t hy was Deansgrange in Dublin with 4.8%.
And 11.3% of all vehicles inspected at the NCT centre in Derrybeg, Co Donegal, were unsafe.
Lights were the most common fail item last year followed by suspension and steering, brakes and tyres.