General inspection
TÜV Report 2022 – Mercedes in front, BMW shocked with minus placement
Once a year, the TÜV presents its evaluation of the main inspection.
© Photo booth / K. Schmitt / Picture Alliance
The TÜV publishes the evaluation of the main inspections: Mercedes vehicles get through well across the board. Renault and Dacia are again negative. But the VW Sharan and BMW 5 series also disappoint.
The Corona time is good for the cars. Only 17.9 percent of all vehicles failed the general inspection with “significant” or “dangerous defects”. That’s about two percent less than before – with only a year in between, two percent is a significant decrease. Behind this is a long-term trend; in 2014, 24.9 percent failed. Today it’s seven percent less. The proportion of vehicles with “minor defects” also fell by 0.5 points to 9.1 percent. “During the lockdowns, many vehicle owners had more time to take care of the maintenance of their cars,” suspects the managing director of the TÜV association, Dr. Joachim Bühler.
An important point should also be that longer warranty periods and other forms of use such as the car subscription mean that more vehicles are serviced for longer in the specialist workshop. In the case of the young vehicles, problems at the general inspection also indicate negligence on the part of the workshop, which did not notice the defects during the service inspections.
Few flaws at the age of three
The Mercedes star shines on vehicles up to three years old: the rate of significant defects in the Mercedes GLC is only 1.5 percent for vehicles that are two to three years old. Second place also goes to Mercedes: The B-Class (1.9 percent) relegates the VW T-Roc (2.0 percent) to third place. Old friends also take first place in the other categories. In the four- to five-year-old automobiles, the Audi Q2 (defect rate 2.1 percent) is ahead of the Porsche 911 (2.9 percent) and the Mazda CX-3 (3.5 percent). Although the deficiencies in these age groups are relevant to safety, they can usually be remedied with little effort. The expensive repairs to the chassis or because of rust perforations usually come later.
Better rust prevention in particular contributes to the fact that cars on German roads are getting older and older. According to the KBA Federal Motor Transport Authority, the vehicles currently have an average of 9.8 years under their belt. On average! So for every new car there is a 20-year-old oldie. Compared to 2011, the fleet is 1.5 years older. Today, 42 percent of all cars registered in Germany are ten years or more under their belt.
The older, the more flaws
It is hardly surprising that the older a vehicle gets, the higher the defect rate: 12.4 percent of six to seven year old vehicles, 17.5 percent of eight to nine year olds and 22.8 percent of ten to eleven year old cars fall General inspection by. The list of defects brings out old friends. The experts particularly often complain about defects in the lighting. “Broken brake lights or dazzling headlights are a serious risk for all road users, especially in the dark season,” said Bühler. Actually, it is incomprehensible to drive up to the TÜV with such an obvious defect, which can usually be fixed for a few euros. Other serious problems are oil loss and inadequate brakes.
Shock for BMW
Among the six to seven year old vehicles, the Porsche 911 (3.3 percent) is number one, followed by the Golf Sportsvan (5.5 percent) and the Suzuki SX4 (6.1 percent). In the older cars (up to nine years of age) the Audi TT shows the field the taillights with a defect rate of 7.7 percent. Behind them are the Mercedes B-Class with 8.1 percent and the Mercedes SLK with 8.6 percent. The Ingolstadt roadster also holds the top among vehicles up to eleven years old with 12.5 percent and relegates the BMW X1 (15.0 percent) and the Audi A1 (16.1 percent) to places. But here you have to pay attention to the type of vehicle. A collector’s vehicle like a convertible often only serves as a good-weather vehicle and spends a large part of its car life in the garage, with full care. No wonder that the convertible does better in old age than a craftsman’s and caretaker’s car like a VW Caddy or Renault Kangoo.
Breakdown by segment
If you look at vehicle segments across all age groups, Mercedes is leading the way again: In the compact class, the Mercedes A-class wins (2.5 percent), in the middle class, the C-class (2.5 percent) and the Mercedes B-class (1, 9 percent) for the vans. In the small car category, the Audi A1 (2.9 percent) achieved the best position. But the Opel Karl (3.4 percent) also achieved dream values. Since it was only built between 2015 and 2019, this is hardly surprising. The vulnerable old vintages are simply missing.
Dacia and Renault with red lantern
In addition to the beaming winners, there are of course the well-known problem vehicles. When the Dacia Logan visits the TÜV for the first time, it has a defect rate of 11.6 percent, followed by the Dacia Duster (11.4 percent) and the Renault Kangoo (9.2 percent). But even high prices do not protect against defects. Among the five-year-olds, the BMW 5/6 series achieved a whopping defect rate of 16.8 percent – that’s enough for the negative top spot. The VW Sharan family car, which is also not exactly cheap, follows in second place with 16.4 percent. Even the Dacia Dokker is better with 16.0 percent.
In the case of cars up to seven years old, the Fiat Punto (23.3 percent) comes off worst. The Renault Kangoo and the Dacia Dokker are only slightly more reliable with a defect rate of 22.1 percent and 21.7 percent respectively. The figures are already significant for the nine-year-old vehicles, in which the Renault Kangoo leads the negative rating with 31.8 percent, followed by the Fiat Panda (29.6 percent) and the Dacia Logan (29.4 percent). With the eleven-year-olds, the Dacia Logan then has a defect rate of 36.8 percent. The Fiat Panda has a value of 34.0 percent and the Kia Picanto is on the list of defects with 33.7 percent.
Only 0.04 percent of the cars were really unsafe for traffic; they were shut down immediately.