The TÜV Report 2018, published by the association of German TÜV organizations (VdTÜV), states that the level of safety of cars is consistently increasing. This is mainly thanks to the quality of car production and regular maintenance, especially in the growing numbers of corporate cars.
The number of vehicles with no technical defects has fallen by 0.6% to 66.1% compared to last year. The number of vehicles unable to pass technical controls due to a serious defect increased by 0.2% to 19.9%. The number of cars with minor defects slightly declined. The share of vehicles that had to be withdrawn because of safety hazards has remained the same for many years: 0.1%.
Most (about one fifth) vehicles encountered problems with lighting. The slight 2.2% growth of the number of defects of dipped lights is particularly striking. This is related to the rapid development of LED lights, xenons and the so-called high-class laser lights. It can also be related to the integration of much more lighting equipment into the basic models of the newest cars.
The least and most defective vehicles
The winner of the TÜV Report 2018 is the Mercedes SLK with an average share of significant defects of 2.0%. Second place goes to the VW Golf Sportsvan (share of defects 2.5%). Third place is shared by the Mercedes B Class, which occupied second place last year, and the Mercedes GLK again.
The TÜV Report ranks vehicles according to the share of defects with respect to their age - categories 2-3 years, 4-5 years, 6-7 years, 8-9 years and 10-11 years. Check out the TÜV Report 2018 rankings published in the Auto Bild Magazine.
In terms of individual classes, the Opel Adam (3.8%) won in the mini class. Among small vehicles, the Mazda 2 (2.7%) was the first again. In the compact class, Mercedes-Benz A-Class (3.3%) achieved the best value. In the middle class, the Volvo V40 (3.0%) beat Mercedes C-Class (3.4%). A change took place in the VAN class - last year's winner, the Mercedes B-Class, was beaten by the VW Golf Sportsvan which was second in the overall ranking. The Mercedes GLK, third in the overall ranking, also marked a victory in the SUV class.
The Kia Sportage suffered most problems on technical controls with 12.6% of defects. The Fiat Punto (12.3%) and Dacia Logan (12.2%) closely followed.
TÜV Report
The TÜV Report is published annually by the VdTÜV association and is regarded as one of the most important independent sources of advice for drivers, especially when buying used vehicles. It includes all the results of technical inspections from all TÜV companies in Germany - in 2018 a total of 8.8 million technical inspections from July 2016 to June 2017.
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