New contrôle puts danger cars off road immediately

The contrôle applies to all cars under 3.5tonnes – those with VP marked on their carte grise – plus vans, company cars and camper vans. It does not, yet, apply to motorcycles as owners are seen as ‘more aware’ of machine problems.

It first applies to cars reaching their fourth year on the road, the law says “in the six months before the fourth anniversary of first registration”.

Although widely viewed by many drivers as ‘just another tax’, the aim of the new, longer and more vigorous CT is to get rid of dangerous vehicles as part of the European-wide plan to have minimal road deaths by 2050.
The new-look test introduces wholescale changes with the number of faults requiring a return visit rising from 196 to 346 with some of these meaning that what is a simple fault – anomalie – this year may become three separate failures in the new test that comes into force on May 20, 2018.

Faults come in three types, with 150 minor faults (défaillances mineures), 346 major faults needing work then a retest (défaillances majeurs soumises à contre-visite) and 126 critical faults (défaillances critiques soumises à contre-visite) with the latter putting the vehicle off the road until the problem is fixed.

The 150 minor faults, to be repaired when possible, have been slashed from 254 noted this year – and the new list of critical faults includes automatic failures for items such as brakes ‘down to the metal’, a windscreen chip larger than 5cm, tyres worn past the witness depth mark and a broken brake light.

Once the test is complete and passed, the examiner will put a CT sticker on the windscreen.

These are valid for two years – the test is biennial – but vehicles with major faults will get a sticker that lasts two months before works need to be done (or a retest).
For critical faults that put the car off the road, the test centre uses a special sticker allowing the car to be driven that day only, enough to get to a garage.
Driving with an out-of-date CT sticker means a €135 fine but drivers also face losing the carte grise and the vehicle being put off the road.

Next year’s changes come in addition to some introduced at the start of this year, such as an automatic failure if the engine warning light stays on when the car is started or if the windscreen is tinted.
However, the new critical failure list contains some that will be easily visible to the naked eye and all will make the roads safer once the vehicle is no longer driven.

These range from excessively worn brake pads, cracked discs or braking efficiency reduced by 50%; loose steering, a steering wheel with excessive movement on the column or excessive play on the steering; cracked or deformed axle, tyres touching bodywork when loaded, tyre interior visible, low tread depth or unequal tread depths across the same axle.

On the chassis, cracks in chassis spars or crosspieces will mean a fail along with any fire risk from badly protected fuel lines or tank, faulty GPL or other fuel system, a loose or blowing exhaust, fluid leaks, badly set bumpers or other bodywork, spare wheel loose in its mounting, a faulty door, a driver’s seat that cannot be adjusted, seat belts improperly anchored and anti-theft devices that can lock without warning.
On visibility and lighting, the automatic fails include cracked or discoloured windscreens (or with a 5cm chip), missing mirrors or a broken brake light whether unlit or always ‘on’.

The new tougher regime will undoubtedly mean the number of retests will rise from the present 15% to much more although drivers can make many of the pre-test checks themselves for next to nothing.

There are 6,200 CT stations across the country but costs vary widely, with CT comparison site Simplauto saying they average €67 but run from €35 to €98. The site warns against putting cars in for a free ‘pré- contrôle technique gratuit’ test as it has found unscrupulous garages will charge for work that is not essential.