An undercover team from national consumer watchdog DECO took a number of vehicles to 30 MOT centres and were shocked to find that several intentionally-introduced faults had not been detected by the technicians.
In fact, all establishments failed the DECO ‘fault finder test’ and the consumer association is now calling for stricter inspection of MOT centres to be enforced.
Mismatched rear tyres, a malfunctioning seatbelt and a broken warning triangle were among the faults that went undetected.
Not one MOT centre was able to detect all six faults that had been intentionally introduced in the vehicles and, worryingly, six establishments managed to overlook them all.
DECO is now demanding urgent action from the Institute of Mobility and Transport (IMTT) as the situation has not improved since the last study was conducted by the association, which was in 2006 with similar concerning results.
“Seven years on, at a time that drivers have been forced to cut back on general vehicle maintenance, we decided it was time to pay MOT centres a visit again, and concluded that the same problems still exist,” read the DECO report published in its November publication Pro Teste.
Fátima Martins, who coordinated the DECO test, said: “Six MOT centres failed to detect all six faults, six centres only detected one and a further six establishments detected just two.”
Faults presented were worn windscreen wipers (Type 1), malfunctioning seatbelt, badly-adjusted low beam headlight, low intensity fog light, mismatched rear tyres and a broken warning triangle (Type 2). One or two Type 2 faults can be enough for a vehicle to fail its MOT.
“Lights and tyres were subject to stricter inspection, however only three MOT centres detected the two related faults,” said DECO.
Fátima Martins believes the IMTT should conduct similar undercover inspections of these establishments and in cases where previously-applied sanctions have fallen on deaf ears the business should be closed down.
“This is the only way of achieving results. It is a known fact that if MOT centres are too strict, they run the risk of losing customers and so they tend to facilitate the process,” she said.
According to DECO, the CIMA MOT centres of Santarém, Pombal and Alcobaça, as well as Pedro Lamy, Mastertest Rio Maior and Centro de S. Dinis all failed to detect the six faults.
