New Reports Show That 20% of Cars Fail First MOT
09/10/2013
New reports out on vehicles registered in 2010 show that more than 20 percent, or one in five, vehicles failed their first MOT test. The Vehicle Operator and Services Agency (VOSA) put out the reports to show whether or not new vehicles being sold and put out into the marketplace are properly prepared and built to deal with the demands of the testing requirements. Reports showed that vehicles were tested for the data report between January and August of 2013, the first time that the 2010 registered vehicles were presented since their initial registration. To do the study, VOSA provided more than 70 million MOT records to TootCompare, a car shopping and comparison web site.
Not all of the vehicles presented during this time period for MOT testing failed. In fact, some vehicles performed admirably, and those brands were hailed in the report for their compliance with laws and for producing quality vehicles. While 253,000 vehicles failed, few of them came from Japanese and German car manufacturers, who outperformed against all other tested vehicle makers and models. According to reports, the Toyota IQ achieved a pass rate of nearly 92 percent, the highest pass rate of all vehicles tested. The entire Lexus line was named as the most reliable manufacturer during the testing phase. Cars from Lexus achieved an overall 89.5 percent pass rate during testing.
Other vehicles were found to be less reliable and were called out in the report for their high rates of failure. Renault’s kangaroo car and Renault’s van passed MOT testing at a shockingly low 63.5 percent. The entire Citroen line was called out for poor performance. The Citroen line had an overall pass rate of only 76.2 percent.
Defects are not always major problems occurring with the power train and other functionality in vehicles, but often have more to do with safety and other day-to-day functionality features. Around 50 percent of the defects reported in the failed MOT reports are car tires and lights, like headlights. According to the reporting company, in most cases, car owners must be unaware of the faults in their vehicles. The other possibility reported in the study is that some motorists may simply be putting off fixing their vehicles in the hopes that the MOT tester will not notice the problems.
The signal provided in the study is for dealers to step it up a notch and realize the problems that are occurring with their vehicles before they put them out n the market or sell them to customers. One of the most significant issues is that dealers want to sell to customers quickly and get the sale. Instead, the report indicates that dealers should be attempting to provide customers vehicles that are as defect-free as possible. In addition to Toyota IQ, the next top performing vehicles for consumers are the Honda Jazz, the Honda CR-V, the Lexus IS, the Toyota Yaris, and the Lexus RX, followed by the Audi Q% and TT.
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