NCT defended after investigation claims serious test flaws

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has defended the compulsory vehicle inspection programme in Ireland – known as the NCT – after an investigation claimed cars with serious defects could still pass the tests.

An investigation by RTÉ, shown on television on Thursday night, claimed it is possible for a car to pass the NCT despite all of its shock absorbers being defective.

“I stand over the NCT. I absolutely believe it has saved lives,” RSA chief executive Moyagh Murdock said on RTE’s Morning Ireland on Friday.

Ms Murdock said there is no agreed international test to determine what the readings should be for shock absorbers. “There are many configurations and factors that can contribute to the readings. At present they cannot come up one single parameter to determine if a shock absorber is defective or not.”

She added that, in 2015, the NCT examined 1.49 million vehicles, the highest number on record. More than 6,000 cars were taken off the road after they were deemed defective.

When asked about the thoroughness of the test, the chief executive of the RSA – which has overall responsibility for the NCT service – said on RTÉ radio that “it is the car owners responsibility to get their car checked on an annual basis by a qualified mechanic. The NCT is a 19-minute test that costs €55.

“If you expect the NCT to dismantle and inspect a vehicle, so you can get a full assessment, then you may leave it in for a full day and pay a cost that is 10 fold. It is a road worthiness test, not a warranty.”

The NCT tests a vehicle’s suspension in two ways – a visual check for oil leaks and a mechanical test to identify any imbalance.

The balance test identifies whether there is an imbalance between the vertical movement of wheels on either side of the vehicle. Provided the wheels are in relative balance – within a 30 per cent differential – they will pass.

However, as oil leaks are not always visible on defective shock absorbers, vehicles with equally defective shock absorbers may pass the test.

This means, according to the RTÉ investigations unit report, that cars can pass the NCT even though they may be in what some experts describe as “a dangerous condition”.

Vehicle experts said if a car registers an NCT machine reading above 80 Mahameters, it should raise a red flag because it suggests the shock absorbers need to be replaced.

However, cars pass the NCT with readings well in excess of that.

A statement from the Road Saftey Authority said they “absolutely disagree with this hypothesis” and had based their opinion on “the best research and actual testing of vehicle which was reviewed by the Transport Research Laboratory in the UK”.

According to the RTÉ report, one car passed with shocks showing readings of 159 Mahameters on one side and 178 on another.

Readings that high would indicate the car was unstable, however, it passed because the wheels were in relative balance.