[supermax]

In Sweden, each new car that leaves a dealership undergoes a process called type-approval and roadworthiness acceptance, the date of which goes into the car's registration certificate. The first time a car needs to be subject to a repetition of the roadworthiness check, i.e. the second check, is three years from the date of the above-mentioned check. The third check is to be carried out not later than 2 years after the second check, and after the third check, all further checks need to be carried out every 14 months. This is very strictly implemented and cars that aren't inspected in time, or cars that fail the inspection are automatically banned from the roads. Driving a car that's banned is an offense punishable with steep fines and leaves one without insurance coverage, in case of any incident/accident.

My car underwent its second check in March of 2023, and was therefore due for its third check now. Information about one's address, membership in steering committees, vehicle and property ownership etc is by default fully public in Sweden, and so companies that perform the roadworthiness checks start sending out reminders and their special discount offers to car owners, a couple of months before the actual test is necessary, which is a nice thing, as it ensures that I don't need to remember to create a reminder myself, or risk getting the car banned due to forgetting. The reminder messages started pouring in around January, and I just needed to select the provider closest to me, and who offered the biggest discount, as there's nothing extra special in how the test itself is executed, as long as it's a licensed and approved test center.

After some price-checking, I decided upon Dekra. Formula One enthusiasts here might remember that Dekra was an F1 sponsor whose logo figured on Michael Schumacher's Ferrari cap in the days of old. They offered a discount if I prepaid on the web, which I gladly did, and chose the station near me, and a time convenient to me. My vehicle is registered with a removable tow-hook, and I found out that it must be present during the inspection. It didn't matter if it was mounted or removed, as long as it was present in the car. The other thing that's on the mandatory list is a warning triangle. After ensuring that both items were present, I drove to the checking station.

A short wait later, one of their techs took my keys and took the car for a small spin to perform a mandated acceleration and brake test. Upon his return, he drove the car into the inspection hall. I asked if I could take photographs for my blog, and was given the greenlight to do so, as long as I didn't capture faces of their personnel.



The car was placed onto a lift, and raised.



During a thorough under-body inspection, they inspected the shocks and the wheel angles. They performed wheel turning checks to ensure that the alignment was not off.



The car was lowered and a scanner attached, to check for error codes. Lights were checked, and an emission test carried out. The car passed the roadworthiness inspection without any comments or faults. Had there been any issues that were noted, I'd have had to rectify the faults and book a second inspection. If we are maintaining/servicing the car ourselves, we need to pay close attention to all the points on the test protocol to ensure that the car is in strict compliance, but if the car is being serviced as per the manufacturer's recommendations, this is almost never an issue. All of the checks were completed in under 20 minutes, and I was handed the inspection certificate which noted that the vehicle had passed all inspection checks. I logged into the department of transportation's app after driving home, and was impressed that the date of last inspection had already been updated! The next such check is now needed in 14 month's time.

The issue with 2G/3G removal and roadworthiness testing

I'd posted in June of 2024 about the issues connected with the phasing out of 2G and 3G networks across operators in Sweden (The phasing out of 2G/3G networks worldwide can affect motorists in a huge way). What this means for those who own cars registered after some cut-off date in 2018 is that if the SOS/e-call button on the car doesn't work, this automatically gets noted as a failure, on the roadworthiness tests. When a car gets a failure on any test, the owner has 14 days to rectify the issue, but the issue with the SOS/e-call failure cannot be fixed, as car makers have collectively thrown in the towel, saying it's too hard-baked into the system to make it possible/feasible to simply swap out the old tech for newer tech. Car owner associations have been actively lobbying the government to change the test protocol, to allow for cars to stay on the road even if the SOS/e-call functionality is no longer functional. While It looks highly likely that this suggestion will be accepted, as with any significant deviation in the stated laws or regulations, this is going to take a while before the change comes into effect. Till then, car owners would be hoping and praying that their cars don't fail the test. Some telecom operators in north Sweden have already shut down the 2G/3G services, resulting in some cars already reporting SOS/e-call failures, but I guess they have to drive to a different location where 2G/3G services are still available, to carry out the test. I certainly hope the problem would have been laid firmly to rest by the time my car is due for its next inspection in May of 2026!

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Jeroen]

Thanks for sharing. Very similar to what we do here in the Netherlands. We don’t check the allignement though. On newer cars (not sure from which year) there is no emmission test, if there is no check engine light the car is considered ok in compliance with the emmission requirements.

A lot of time is spend on checking the suspension components on play and overall rust. The test takes bout 45 minutes here. Also, windshield gets inspected for chips, seat belts, drive train, e.g all rubber boots on CV joints and so on.

One other major difference is that here these tests are offered by dealers and independent garages. Their equipment and staff need certification and they get checked, randomly, but multiple times per year.

The big advantages is if they find anything, they can fix it for you immediately and pass the test afterwards. Many dealers / garages will offer this annual test free of charge as part of a regular maintenance.

Whether a car has a valid APK as we call it, is visible for everybody on the Internet

Jeroen

[supermax]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

One other major difference is that here these tests are offered by dealers and independent garages. Their equipment and staff need certification and they get checked, randomly, but multiple times per year.

I guess the reason they don't allow garages and dealerships to do it is the potential conflict of interest; I guess they don't want the people to feel that the tests are gamed to force you to change things which aren't really defective. Here, the test center has no incentive to fail a car or recommend unnecessary 'fixes'. They check the glass surfaces for cracks and stone-hits here too.

[srsriharsha]

Here in the UK, there is a MOT (Ministry of Transport) test which is an annual inspection that needs to be done on vehicles over 3 years old for vehicles to remain roadworthy. They inspect Brakes, Lights and Indicators, Tyres and Wheels, Emissions, Suspension, Windshield Wipers.

Issues are categorised into
Dangerous (instant fail and can't be driven on road until its fixed),
Major (its still a fail and must be fixed but can be driven with sufficient proof that the issue will be fixed asap) and
Minor advisories are less serious issues which passes MOT and doesn't need to be fixed to be roadworthy.

In my last MOT, I had a rear coil spring which had a price broken at the end (about an inch) due to rusting but it was still seated properly without issues. It was noted as Major and the next appointment was after a week. So I could drive the car knowing that an appointment was booked to fix the issue. After the issue was fixed, a retest will be done and the results updated.

All this information including the mileage of the car is available on the government website which also helps to look up the history of the car while purchasing

[amolpol]

France has a similar check known as Control Technique which is due before the 4th anniversary of a new car and every 2 years thereafter. It’s done at centres that are forbidden to carry out any repairs. Depending on the situation you may get no actions or a minor failure which needs to be corrected before the next inspection. If the problem is serious then you need to fix and come back within a defined timeframe to get it certified. There’s a fine and/or risk of seizure of your car if you get caught without it.

[Ravi Parwan]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

...The big advantages is if they find anything, they can fix it for you immediately and pass the test afterwards. Many dealers / garages will offer this annual test free of charge as part of a regular maintenance....Jeroen

Originally Posted by supermax

I guess the reason they don't allow garages and dealerships to do it is the potential conflict of interest; I guess they don't want the people to feel that the tests are gamed to force you to change things which aren't really defective. Here, the test center has no incentive to fail a car or recommend unnecessary 'fixes'. They check the glass surfaces for cracks and stone-hits here too.

Originally Posted by amolpol

France has a similar check known as Control Technique which is due before the 4th anniversary of a new car and every 2 years thereafter. It’s done at centres that are forbidden to carry out any repairs.....

I guess that is the difference in culture between different countries. Jeroen thinks it is convenient for the garage doing the testing to do the repairs, while supermax and amolpol believe there should be a distinction between the testing and repairing garages.

I believe Mumbai had annual "passing" for the old "kali-peeli" cabs, which kept them somewhat roadworthy. Don't know how much collusion was there but it is worthy system.

But any wide spread implementation of this in India would have immediate tie-ups between the testing centres and garages where the latter would pay for the testing centres to point out unnecessary faults and steer customers their way.

We already have such systems in place in medicine and motor insurance....

[Bsreecharan]

Just look at how neat the car is! I am sure its maintained well and cleaned regularly. However, being an OCD for car cleanliness, I am amazed at how countries outside of India, being dust free help keep the cars in top condition. I struggle to keep my cars clean and top condition, one is just the dirt and dust on our roads and the second is pot holes and unscientific speed breakers.

[amolpol]

Originally Posted by Ravi Parwan

I guess that is the difference in culture between different countries.

But any wide spread implementation of this in India would have immediate tie-ups between the testing centres and garages where the latter would pay for the testing centres to point out unnecessary faults and steer customers their way.

We already have such systems in place in medicine and motor insurance....

Actually its directly linked to the level of corruption that exists in a country and not really cultural. In India, you probably won’t need the tie ups coz nobody will fail the testing in the first place at certain centres. Look at what had become of the simple PUC checks that have been in existence since years. The system will work only when accountability is defined and enforced. The question of whether the testing center will fix issues is a matter of principle and technicality but it doesn’t mean they cannot suggest a garage to visit.

The cars here have no defined retirement age like in India where people are forced to decommission cars in 10-15 yrs which is absurd when cars are engineered for much longer life. But then these checkpoints are what keeps the accidents due to failures under control. A rule like the 10 year ban will meet with serious revolt from the general population here since buying a new car is not what people like to do every few years (at least in the French culture).

[supermax]

Originally Posted by Bsreecharan

Just look at how neat the car is! I am sure its maintained well and cleaned regularly. However, being an OCD for car cleanliness, I am amazed at how countries outside of India, being dust free help keep the cars in top condition.

Thanks very much! I try to keep it clean as much as I can! Sweden though is far from being dust free. In the summer, we have a lot of wind, and where I live, we neither have skyscrapers nor mountains, so winds from the coast end up coming all the way inland, and they can bring a lot of dust. During winters, there's a lot of snow and slush. My car being a combi means that snow/slush that gets slung at my car from vehicles in front of me go over the roof and slide down and cover the rear-window, often bringing down rear visibility significantly. I always have a snow-brush which I use to clean off the bulk of the muck from the rear window. Using the wipers without cleaning will just mean the risk of getting a lot of scratches. Driving through snow/slush can quickly give you a very dirty car. In the winters, the municipality also uses a lot of salt on the roads, to prevent icing, and this too makes it important to wash the cars regularly, to prevent under-body corrosion from the salt.

Originally Posted by amolpol

A rule like the 10 year ban will meet with serious revolt from the general population here since buying a new car is not what people like to do every few years (at least in the French culture).

Bang on. The policies here are framed to actually disincentivize buying of new cars. We pay a very steep addional cess for the first three years of a car's lifetime, precisely to ensure that more people buy used cars than new ones. This is called 'malus' (penalty!). I bought a 1 year old car, so I ended up paying the malus for 2 years, but now, I just pay the regular annual tax, which is linked to my car's emission levels and the year of manufacture. Cars which are older than mine with the same emission levels (or sometimes even higher levels!) pay lesser than me, as the latest emission levels are not applied to older cars. This too further incentivizes buying older cars, and keeping them in a good condition. I don't think I'll ever buy a brand new car here in Sweden.