92,000 cars found to be too dangerous for roads

Figures spark warning to motorists from Road Safety Authority

MORE than 92,000 cars were found to be too dangerous for our roads by National Car Test centres last year, a figure that has led the Road Safety Authority to issue a stark warning.

A sticker stating ‘failed dangerous’ is placed on such vehicles, as a warning, by inspectors at the NCT centre.

And an RSA spokesperson said: ‘It is illegal for a vehicle to be driven on a public road with dangerous defects, which means the driver may incur penalty points and a court appearance if caught by An Garda Síochána.’

Often in such cases, tyres are in poor condition or there are brake problems. The latest figures, published by the RSA, show that one in 15 vehicles examined at an NCT test centre during 2019 were in an unroadworthy condition.

A total of 92,523 cars were classified as ‘failed dangerous’. They represent 6.6% of the almost 1.4million cars tested at 47 NCT centres nationwide last year.

Any motorist whose vehicle is classified as ‘failed dangerous’ is advised that it is unsafe to be used on the road ‘under any circumstances’. Although the vast majority subsequently obtained an NCT, a total of 2,791 vehicles were still found to be dangerously defective following a re-test.

The RSA spokesperson said the large number of cars being classified as ‘failed dangerous’ was not surprising. As a result of the implementation of an EU directive on roadworthiness tests on motor vehicles since 2018, all defects are now classified as either minor, major or dangerous.

‘Many motorists are still unaware about the change in classification and there is a need to educate car owners that there are some problems which will have their vehicle deemed unsafe to drive on public roads and that they need to take the issue seriously,’ the spokesperson said.

A recent survey by the RSA indicated that 40% of all car owners used the NCT as a diagnostic tool for problems with their vehicles, which the RSA claims explains the higher failure rate for the initial test. ‘People need to stop using the NCT to identify problems with their car. They should be getting it serviced regularly by a mechanic as it is a much more detailed examination. The NCT can never be a substitute for a full service,’ said the spokesperson.

Neither the RSA nor Applus, the operator of the NCT, collect information on the number of people who still drive away from NCT centres in an unroadworthy vehicle or who arrange to have their car towed away. The RSA spokesperson said anyone who continued to drive a vehicle after it was deemed dangerously defective was ‘irresponsible’. Any motorist detected driving an unroadworthy vehicle is liable for a fine of up to €2,000 and five penalty points and/or a three-month jail term.

The RSA said gardaí were automatically notified via the National Vehicle and Driver File of any vehicle that was overdue its NCT by three months.

Such information is also now available to gardaí at roadside checkpoints, who are equipped with new hand-held devices for checking on the licensing status of drivers and vehicles stopped.

RSA figures show 50% of all cars which underwent an NCT last year passed the full test – up from 49.1% in 2018.

In addition to the ‘failed dangerous’ vehicles, over 603,000 other cars also failed the test. The figures also indicate that more than 41,500 vehicles which did not pass the full test were not submitted for a re-test.

Cars first registered in 2015, 2013, 2011, 2009 and any older vehicles were due for testing last year.

The RSA confirmed recently that it has required Applus to pilot changes to the testing of a vehicle’s suspension.

It follows a €31,000 award by Cork Circuit Civil Court against Applus for failing to spot a faulty suspension in a vehicle, which was subsequently involved in a fatal traffic collision.

A post-collision report found the vehicle to be unroadworthy both at the time of its involvement in a fatal crash near Fota, Co. Cork, in December 2012, and when it passed the NCT seven months earlier. The driver of the vehicle, a young Cork woman, Amanda O’Flaherty, 26, died after it veered into an oncoming vehicle.

‘It is illegal to drive such vehicles’