A-Katsastus pulled the statistics from its network of inspection facilities across Finland. The company said that it tested some 760,000 passenger cars for road-worthiness in 2015 and found that just over 183,000 or 24.1 percent, failed the assessment.
This represented an increase over the previous year, although body and chassis defects including rust damage, had declined, the company said in a release. At the same time the inspections revealed an increase in defects related to brakes and suspension.
Technical director Hannu Pellikka noted that some cars showed signs of problems from as early as the first inspection. He added that the increase in defects and the nature of the flaws reflect the country’s ageing motor vehicle stock as well as climate variations, which it said were more extreme in Finland than in other parts of Europe.
"The Finnish climate is difficult for cars. It is particularly hard on mechanical brake parts and joints in the front axle assembly and steering gear. Rejections of rather new cars in inspection are primarily connected to these defects", he pointed out
Volkswagen Kombi tops rejection list
According to A-Katsastus, among cars in use for three years, Volkswagen’s Kombi model came in at the top of the list of rejections. Close to 20 percent of this model failed inspection, most often for problems with the steering mechanism.
However the company pointed out that these inspected models had been driven 180,000 kilometres on average. By contrast, the rarely-rejected Honda Jazz model in the same age class would have clocked up just 37,000 kilometres on odometer.
A comparison of mileage statistics reveals a different story, as the Skoda Superb model rarely failed inspection (just 2.28 percent), although they had been driven on average 102,000 kilometres. Volkswagen’s Caddy also had a low rejection rate (3.37 percent) although such vehicles had been on the road for 103,000 kilometres on average.
