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Charlotte Haye 22nd March 2017

10 Common Reasons Your HGV Will Fail Its Annual Test

In 2016, over 417,767 HGV’s underwent their annual tests to ensure they are safe and sound to keep running on the roads. Out of that enormous number, 71,020 failed. That’s an initial failure rate of 17.2%. This is an important number to recognise because, unlike their car counterparts, HGV’s are on the road all day, every day and have the potential to cause a great deal of problems. So to help take care of your HGV, here are the 10 most common fail points of the last year.

10 – Wiring

1% (around 428) of all the test fails last year were put down to wiring failures. According to the DVSA’s HGV inspection manual, vehicle examiners will thoroughly check the condition and security of the vehicles wiring. If it is damaged, or positioned in a way that it could be chafed, caught or damaged by the heat of the engine, the vehicle will be failed.

9 –Tachograph

Running pretty much neck and neck with wiring in terms of failure rating, speedometer and tachograph faults were another 1% of all failure rates. HGV’s must have a tachograph fitted unless the operator is exempt from tachograph regulations, with all seals and fixtures undergoing a visual inspection. If your tachograph is damaged, not keeping to time or not present, your vehicle will fail.

8 – Parking Brake Performance

A little higher in the running, parking brake performance issues accounted for 1.2% of test fails. To pass, the parking brake needs to have a secure mechanism and function fully and correctly when applied.

7 – Secondary Brake Performance

Impressively, 1.4% of issues were not with the primary brake, but with the secondary. This is checked in the same way as the main parking brake, but because it is often not maintained as well, it fails more often than not.

6 – Suspension

According to the HGV inspection manual issued by the government, examiners must check that the vehicles suspension is secure and attached correctly at all points. It must be in good condition and free from defects or damage. Overall, 1.6% of HGV’s tested last year had some issues with their suspension system.

5 – Steering

Steering mechanism issues made up 1.9% of annual test failures last year. Throughout the check, examiners will look at the mechanism, the functionality and the smoothness of movements – it can’t be too stiff or too rough.

4 – Service Brake Performance

Moving up into the higher numbers, 2.5% of HGV’s failed their annual checks due to service brake performance issues. Similar to the other brake checks, the service brake is tested according to the type of braking system that’s used, for example air pressure, vacuum or hydraulic.

3 – Brake System Components

3.3% of vehicles failed their tests based on faults with the brake systems components – meaning that the brake systems are damaged and do not function as they should.

2 – Lamps

Issues with HGV lamps made up around 3.8% of the failures last year. The examiners will conduct a thorough check that all lamps are fitted into the vehicle correctly, including headlamps, fog lamps, stop lamps, side marker lamps, rear registration plate lamps, and rear mounted forklift lamps. If any one of these lamps is missing, insecure, misplaced or not showing the right colour or brightness, the vehicle will fail.

1 – Headlamp Aim

A common compliant of motorists is that HGV headlights are at the wrong height for them, which is why HGV headlight aim is checked every year. Misalignment represented 4.8% of failures last year, making it the most common failure point of the annual test failures. To pass, your vehicle headlights must shine onto a form and be within the correct band.

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