I Took A 250,000-Mile Minivan Through Germany's Rigorous Car Inspection And It Was A Disaster
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- čas přidán 15. 11. 2020
- After flying to Germany and spending over a month preparing a $600 diesel Chrysler Voyager for the country’s daunting TÜV inspection, I was confident. I’d replaced, fixed and adjusted dozens of faulty parts. But oh was I wrong.
Here’s what happened when I took a 250,000-mile Chrysler minivan that I’d bought sight unseen through one of the toughest mandatory vehicle inspections on earth.
Read more:
jalopnik.com/i-took-a-250-000...
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Imagine if we had rigorous inspections here in the US. A LOT of vehicles would be disqualified.
Given the rust buckets I see around here, that's for the best.
I have a German friend who owns a TuV inspection station. He can't believe what's allowed to drive on the road in the US.
Hence why America's so great... in terms of letting us get away with sketchy shit like that
@@marsrover001 I don't disagree with that. Not so many problems with rust in Texas, but plenty of older vehicle running around on what I am sure are worn steering and suspension components, bad brakes, and bald tires.
Be glad you don't they have similar inspections in australia and its a fucking nightmare when you have an older car
Meanwhile in the US: “ blinkers work, good to go!”
Not like they will be used anyway lol
@@leithchesser7449 here in Florida no vehicle inspection. So as long you don't emit too much smoke your good
@@1985toyotacamry are You joking?
@@jareknowak8712 no joke dead serious
@@1985toyotacamry I'm in Alberta, they don't even care about the smoke. No emissions, no safety test.
Pretty similar to Sweden, we are actually astounded to how shitty cars seem to be allowed on the streets in the US. I remember the shock of seeing the cars on Pimp my ride and wondering how they could be allowed on the streets :)
Think of the US as 50 individual countries, each with their own standards. Some states have lax auto safety laws, some have much more stringent ones.
Most of the reasons for failing MOT in the UK have nothing to do with safety as dents & rust on brake lines are not safety issues. My take is that most inspections are about keeping a certain economic group from owning a car...
@@davidhollenshead4892 Not at all.... rust makes a car weaker in cas of a crash
Shitboxes all around. Ive seen inspections in Portugal and Spain to be quite stiff too
as stated before, it all depends on the state. a lot of states have no inspections period, while others can be more stringent than some that exist in some European countries (such as my home state of NY versus what my friend in Portugal has told me about it).
Stark contrast from here in michigan where anything with a title can be registered they don't even have to see the car to give you a plate lol
No rust problems, emissions are good and so is the suspension. A walk in the park.
The price you pay for unlimited speed on Autobahn 💪🏼
In an old minivan? Its 0-100 time must be 40 years 😂
One of the many reasons why we will never have a no limit road in the United States
Ireland’s NCT is the same, once a car is 4 years old it has to do a test every 2 years, once it’s 10 years old it has to do a test every year. No autobahn max speed 120 kph (75mph)
@@eamonnheffernan6061 Same in Switzerland.
Keeping a car maintained is usually pretty cheap, deferred maintenance is expensive when 2 or 3 things need fixing at the same time.
Guys, the Voyager did fine. My 1st car had so many failures, the list literally went to page 2. Granted, we *wanted* them to find as many things as possible because we were trying to sue the dealer that "fixed" the car but still, *that* car was bad. Yours is fine.
They did let me drive it home though (if they deem it too dangerous they can prevent you from taking back the car), so that was nice.
Hi from France, this is the same as most European inspections. It keeps junk of the road. Maybe strict in an American eye but not so much over here.
Some states don’t even have inspections at all over here
Ouch !
Yeah! Being French and seeing the procedure I don't get what the fuss is all about the TUV. We don't have the special lift that shakes and steers the car but it's more or less the same criterias for the same result!
Yup in my county in Colorado we have no emissions testing or inspections. It’s actually nice if you’re into modifying cars though. My friend daily’s an evo with catless downpipe because he can lmao
It's not just about the safety inspection aspects... it's how strict TUV requirements are for aftermarket parts and modifications. Idk how that part compares to other EU countries. There's places in the US that have inspections.. I don't think alot of Europeans have a grasp on how big the US is and how states work.. each state is like a different country with some of its own rules and regulations.
Theres no inspections of any kind in my county, believe it or not there isn't cars just falling apart and crashing all over the place...
People just become use to having the government vacuum their wallet out in the name of safety.
From a German: I don't think German TÜV is very strict compared to most european inspections. There is also a great variety. Some places are all by the books, but some let real shitboxes pass.
If you are looking for a real challenge for an older car, try having it inspected in Switzerland (MFK). In case you pass through Switzerland on your roadtrip, you should try that for giggles.
The TÜV guys might be annoying at times, but actually I prefer a car to be technically immaculate in order to be able to stay alive at 100+ mph on the Autobahn. Imagine having no brakes or a worn out chassis there. And oil leakages are no fun at all taking into account the number of motorcyclists in Germany (of which I'm one). Yes, sometimes the inspections can be a pain in the arse, but they are absolutely necessary.
But tbh, the old Voyager and its successor have always performed poorly here...
Imagine being a responsible adult and actually taking care of your own maintenance. What a concept!
@@MyerShift7 That's what I do, but to be honest most people have no clue about how a car works and how it must be maintained, therefore many of them are in bad shape, technically speaking.. My mother knows where to fill in fuel but that's already it. And she's not alone with her lack of knowledge or interest...
sandpaper on asbestos brakes, oh man, clever!
According to the (apparently) German organization VdTUV (the Association of Technical Inspection Agencies), one in five, or 20%, of autos fail this inspection test. So that humble minivan is in some pretty elite company!
Umm, yes. This is how it goes in the whole Europe :D
In Spain, where I come from, it's not as strict. Luckily for us.
Poland looks simmilar. Maybe not so tight tolerances, but checks and outcomes are simmilar.
The van's name should be "Verboten" . 27:20 kitty says "I failed?"
A vehicle that old, that sat that long, first thing i'd do after getting it running would be to replace all the coolant hoses and water pump
Not when the car isn't worth the cost of hoses and a pump...
That’s not a disaster, having a brake cylinder seized is a schoolboy error for tuv
How so? They aren't there to diagnose WHY the issue exists. Just IF the issue exists. Lack of braking force is a failure. It's up to you the owner to figure out why and fix it.
@@ArmadaAsesino no, you misunderstand me. Not checking your brake cylinders are free before going for a tuv test is silly. And after failing once o brakes to go back again without checking them is a bit looney tunes. Hope they charge every time.
@@Ebonyqwe They do ;-)
@@Ebonyqwe exactly. They don’t just tell you that you failed. They give you proper data to very simply diagnose the problem. Then trying to sand rust pitting out of a brake cylinder? Wow.
It goes without saying, you should do new pads, brake pistons, and flex lines before you roadtrip.
Love how the headlight started working halfway through the test lol.
American: Look, I even washed it for you to make it look good. That counts for something right?
German Diplom-Ingenieur at TÜV: NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!
Oh my god. They’re not common anymore in America and I cannot imagine how rare they are in Germany!
Actually I guess they aren’t so rare in other countries then 16:35
@@42luke93 nope, still are. That's apparently just someone who really loves them and hoards Voyagers. There's only 8 of these for sale in all of Germany right now on the biggest used car platform (and 2 of them are sold in either Italy or the Netherlands)
They're just really nice and polite about it all though. Yes it's ok to laugh at the housing holding water. It's hilarious.
This is basically the same as the annual inspection in Costa Rica. They even use german equipment for it.
More or less the entire europe has this exact inspection, with only minor local differences. I think it's a good thing. Seeing some of the rusted scrapheaps running around on US roads makes me question if americans even care about safety at all.
these standards would be a terrible idea in America as is. blame our economy and public transportation, if we had these standards nobody could afford to get to work (without a high grade atleast)
@@vera9230 you pay for it either way, I’m sure vehicle insurance is higher in states where they do no testing, for example
@@vera9230 I don't think that is all true. For one, some US states do actually have these kinds of inspection. Not only that, but a lot of european countries that have a much lower average salary and living conditions than the US also has these. And people still drive to work. Also if you have these annual or bi-annual inspections, you keep the car in better condition over time, so that there is less to fix on each inspection.
@@krissjacobsen9434 What states? I'm familiar with some tough states but not to this extent (or at least not without major exceptions for cars before a certain date). I could imagine wealthier/urban states could do it fine but for more rural states not so much. Also, could you please expand on some european examples with lower median incomes that have a similar lack of infrastructure and population density? I grew up in Middleofnowhereville, USA so I'm really curious how other countries with similar needs for personal transportation resolve these types of problems. This video was definitely interesting, would love to know more about how these things operate across the globe.
Yes, we need more ignorant bureaucrats who severely fail vehicles because they don't understand how they were designed.
All American cars has a steering lock all of them since the moved the ignition from the dashboard in the 60s
Just remove the steering lock...
@@davidhollenshead4892 That‘s also a fail for TÜV. You need a steering lock for anti theft 😅
No. My 88 corolla has no steering lock from factory. My 98 escort does not as well. But my 88 galant does
@@ZeldaNumber17 well a corolla is not made in America its not a American car neither was the escort it was made in canada or Britain it was a import ford made for there euro market and the galant was made in America weirdly its not a American car but it was made here
put a steel bar between the steering wheel and apply pressure till it breaks,you guys never stole any cars back in the day?
Meanwhile in ohio, if you can insure it we will register it.
Similar to car inspections in Belgium. However, the emissions testing looks brutal to me. They only rev it once for a few seconds and that’s it. These tests are flawed anyway, at least in Belgium.
The test is different depending if it's a gasoline of diesel engine. A diesel engine is revved all the way to the limiter. If it passes on the first try, they don't need to rev it again. Sometimes it takes many tries, as there could be a lot of soot build up in the exhaust.
Anyway, if the engine is in good condition, revving it to the limiter is not a problem. If it were, would the limiter not be too high then? I mean, that's why it's there. To keep the engine revs from getting too high.
@Adrian calling belgium a shithole is downright silly.
@@toastpoint Don't worry, people from Daddy Trump's plague-a-palooza aren't allowed into civilised places like Belgium these days anyway so he can mouth off as much as he likes.
No offence, but where I live it is exactly the same as in this clip. I think you might be happy to live in a place where they are not too strict. Even my 30 yo miata gets the same treatment as my daily. On another note, where should I go for my next inspection? :D P.s: I live in Belgium
Meanwhile in NJ, if your check engine light isn't on, you're good.
With all the shitboxes here in Jersey, I wish they went back to the safety tests we used to have.
The rear brake inspection after the 20:00 min mark is a very important lesson we all should learn from. Just because your drums work, doesn't mean they work to full potential. Thats why they need to be checked often, even if they don't wear as fast as the front brakes.
We never thought you gonna make it :-) glad you made it! Enjoy the trip.
This was a fun video! Congrats on the inspection!
I wonder how badly I would fail. We only have emissions testing here in California...
If we had car inspections in my hometown in Mexico there wouldn't be half of cars in the streets and I'm not even talking about a rigorous one, I mean one that simply checks that your car can break or have any meat remaining in the tires.
Thankfully in the UK, any car over 40 years old is MOT and Tax exempt. This makes my 50 yo Beetle a LOT cheaper to run than my 10 yo Golf! Keep old cars on the road, much better for the environment than continually making new ones!
The mot inspection in N. Ireland is pretty much the same if not even tougher. However the particulate exhaust inspection for diesels was reduced to a less stringent visual test after a string of engine failures due to the high revs.
This TUV inspection seems exactly like a yearly Swedish inspection (besiktning)
Just a bit more expensive, than the Swedish. 180€ is steep. I paid about 40€ last time if I remember correctly.
It IS basically the same thing, just not yearly but every two years. due to that its a little harder to pass tho because more bad can develop within two years.
@mabs503 40€? thats JUST au or JUST hu and even for that its pretty low... TÜV süd is usually about 100-130 for both, TÜV nord is a tad more.
180 with re-inspection and all that included is decent.
Dekra is usually a bit cheaper.
It's pretty much the same across Europe. Just different intervals like here in Austria it's a yearly thing
Because the EU law was modelled after the German procedure, just as many industry standards were.
Yep, same in Finland.
none of my cars would never pass german inspection
Same but i live in Germany😂
About revving diesel cars for many times and for long preiods, it is done to get it through the emissons test. Basically it is to clean the engine of deposits. Warming/Cleaning up your motor before TÜV in my practice has almost never ended up with full gas for over about 10s. If your motor cant handle 10s of full revs well then it is not in a great working order and shouldn't be driven on the road. Diesels should not be running coal, not even on full throttle.
This is almost identical to the irish inspections. They dont rev em out as high as these however for some reason. Pretty much a standard european inspection really
the revs on the emissions test are based on the rpm the max horsepower is rated at, so this is just model specific
You guys all have those ridiculous contraptions that shake the car around? That part in particular seems like a very German thing lol.
@@chickenfishhybrid44 nope, even my Eastern European backwater has, so I imagine it's pretty common.
@@chickenfishhybrid44 only thing that can be said for it tho is it keeps heaps of scrap off the road
@@bayseb4a This is a diesel engine, so it is revved up to the limiter. The test for a gasoline engine requires at least 2000 rpm. Same for all cars, unless otherwise stated by the manufacturer.
Bring the Voyager to Florida and you'd be golden. No inspection or emissions tests of any kind. If it has a title you can register it.
I'm kind of embarrassed by the cars I've had on the road when I was a dumb kid - open headers, massive leaks, no headlights, broken windshields, the works.
Similar in Malaysia. They use the same machine brand too.
Suspension test here is not loaded, right before the brake dyno there's 2 metal plates, they're to load each axle on it and the machine will vibrate each wheel separately to test the absorbers. Free play is done to the front axle, similar to the suspension test but these plates move apart horizontally to stress test the steering and tie rods. I have a fleet of commercial vehicle that needs to be sent for inspection 2x a year.
From what I observed, you need to send the brake hub to a machine shop, have them skim the inner surface. You'll also need a new set of drum brake pads/shoe, brake cylinder(very cheap for drum brakes) and complete flush of the brake fluid. Sanding and not replacing the o rings will result in brake fluid leak in a few months time. It also means it's likely to fail during emergency braking.
If you have spare cash, try doing a very thin skim or replace front disc and pads. Clean and lube the whole front brake assembly, you might have some sludge in the front brake cylinder or stuck pins.
If you did everything right, you'll be getting less than 10% brake force difference, usually around 3-5%. If not check if there's any diverter valves that splits the brake fluid between left and right or front to back. Clean and reassemble.
That's pretty similar to what we have here in Spain. It's call ITV (Technical Inspection of vehicles) and they check pretty much everything from headlights, light, brakes, suspension components, seat belts, horn, rust, leaks and much more… they even look if the license plate is ok (if it's bend or the numbers aren't ok you have to change it).
If your car is brand new you have to pass it when its 4 years old, then every 2 years and when it's 10 years old you have to pass it every year. Depends if you have a car, a motorcycle, a truck this times changes… For example in a work van that is 10 years old you have to pass ITV every 6 months
If you don't have it or you failed and the police pull you over you have to pay a 200 € ticket and if you ITV is negative (means you can't drive your car on public roads until you repair it and passed ITV) the ticket goes up to € 500.
when the title read disaster you where not lying.
Meanwhile in the US, in my state, it doesn't matter what condition the car is in- as long as it hasn't had a check engine light come on for the last ~200 miles driven at the time of registration/emissions, the car is legal.
yea, that first fail is the biggest issue with the TÜV.
Generally its a good thing, safer cars and all yaknow
BUT
Whenever you go there, you zhave to hope that the guy actually knows what hes doing. ive had like 3 or 4 fails with modified and unmodified cars by now simply because the person didnt know and just declared a fail.
Edit:
Now that i think about it, i think both the older mitsubishis i owned also locked with the key in the lock in one position so
maybe these guys just werent well informed
My father has an old English van that has a shorter axle in front, all factory. One time a dumb inspector was telling him he had a mad misalignment to the point he wouldnt even be allowed to drive out of the inspection center to fix it. Turns out one of the measurements the machine makes is comparing the lenght of the two axles and the guy's knowlege only went as far as reading the results from the computer. The problem had to be pointed out to him
@@fgsaramago that's the problem, inspections are just a scam to get money out of you, they do not increase the safety on the road, you can look up numerous studies that showed in places like America where some states have rigorous inspection vs those that don't and often times the vehicle accident rates are the same or sometimes higher in inspection states. Most of the inspectors don't know shit about cars and just read shit off a screen, They should only hire real certified mechanics as these people will know what is safe to drive and what isn't.
@@fgsaramago it doesn't need to be something old or rare. I have a damn mk1 ford focus and the lady wanted to give it an advisory due to the headlights shining too low... The Focus, like many cars, has a switch that can change the headlight position from the inside. The woman didn't know and her ignorance could cost people money
@@eduardopascoal7893 That headlight aiming control is mandatory since 1995, and it's function should also be inspected. Really weird if she was doing inspections, and wasn't familiar with this... At least in Finland we test that too.
#VanLife ... Rock On ... Many blessings , SMR
I'm doing the same, only in a Volkswagen Sharan. My car is registered in France and here the contrôle technique is a walk in the park 😉✌️😇👍.
Stay safe.
It did better than I expected
10:14 the headlight started working again
And this Voyager is most likely not made in USA, Chrysler had them build by a contractor (Magna Steyr Fahrzeugtechnik) in Graz Austria for the European market along with some other Chrysler models.
It is still a Crapmerican design.
You went to all that hassle stripping down the rear brake system twice and just stripped and cleaned the crappy old piston rather than put in two new ones which are not expensive and the problem will only reappear later, granted they passed just ! but is that really good enough, you cannot put a price on brake safety, also sanding down brake linings without a mask on is a big health hazard !.
I did like the Tuv flex test though that is not part of our MOT test in the UK, here they just test with a pry bar.
Safe driving.
As a previous Voyager owner: The ignition switch CANNOT be turned to the LOCK position unless the shifter is in the PARK position. Thus it is not possible to accidently lock the steering wheel while moving. All of the attempts shown in the video were with the shifter in the PARK position.
This is a manual
@@Leatherkid01 - Yes, unfortunately I didn’t notice this until after I posted my comment. I honestly don’t know how the steering wheel interlock works on a Voyager with a manual transmission, but I’m guessing it might be easier to unintentionally lock the steering wheel while still moving. Thanks.
We have the same inspection type here in Denmark, all cars must go thru every 2 years, I bet 50% of US cars on the road would not pass :)
I actually had an accident due to the steering lock on a mercury cougar, the scenario was I went to shut the engine off because it was having issue and that along with brake failure and the park interlocking caused it to steer towards a vehicle on a tow rig and parked and the failure of the brakes and panic park engagement caused it to not have forward motion as it rolled back down a hill and steering wrong caused it to aim towards what I didn’t want to hit, and it locked in that position, I was out of the equation
Pretty similar here in Iceland too.
We get a pretty good list indicating the faults caught.
We also have three severity levels.
1. Non-severe, also describable as "a yellow" card.
2. Cannot get through inspection with this fault. Fault must be repaired to pass inspection.
3. Fault so serious, the vehicle is not safe for traffic. Will not get road registration again.
This must of course all be in working order, or you cannot get your car insured, and if you cannot insure it, you are not allowed to drive it.
I wish we could get this thorough of an inspection in the US. Even when I pay for an inspection they don’t do this good of a job 🙄
6:25 "In Retro-Specs..." Does that mean somebody wearing old-fashioned eyeglasses? Just kidding...I enjoyed your video and became a subscriber today. Thanks and keep up the good work!
BTW. Congratulations on passing! Maybe a trek across Germany is coming soon.
Ireland’s NCT is the same, once a car is 4 years old it has to do a test every 2 years, once it’s 10 years old it has to do a test every year. No autobahn max speed 120 kph (75mph)
This guy looks like a guy who'd go "ACKCHYUALLY" but he seems pretty chill.
Hi guys! Very good job done!
Where did you buy an engine mount?
Thank you! Keep going 👍👏👍💪
This is very similar to the test that you have to pass every year in Costa Rica.. we have to stress when it’s our turn and hope that none of the inspectors are feeling evil! The tools here are fancier but the testing is all very similar..
Riteve!
Had a similar lack of knowledge issue to your ignition switch on the U.K. inspection with my motorbikes suspension, they thought the bushes on my shock were loose because it could rotate slightly, they didn’t realise it’s on rose joints top and bottom.
Holy shit my 04 Saturn vue with 156k would fail this shit miserably. Thank god I live in a state where they don’t even look at the car, they just give you plates and that’s that lol
Hovawartfreunde well i drove the car problem free for almost a year, didnt hurt anybody or cause any damage with my “non safe” car. Now it needs clutch work though and i dont want to have to pull the transmission!
On to the Nürburgring!
This looks practically identical to the MOT test in Northern Ireland, exception being the emission test on diesel cars was cancelled 14 years ago due to engines blowing up at the high revs, and since it was government staff doing the tests they were legally responsible for the damage to the engines.
Not many cars would pass that in the US. Heck I see new cars with lights out more then older cars.
Haha, try the same in Switzerland, inspection is even harder here
I’m a state inspector In Texas.. Takes me longer to enter the vehicle info into the state computer than it does to inspect it.
TÜV is always such a pain for me and my Ford Fiesta... xD
In New Zealand, similar story. Vehicles need to pass a WOF or Warrant of Fitness to be road worthy every 12 months. As the vehicle gets older the checks become more frequent. When I moved to Australia there is no equivalent. I remember following an older poor condition car to work one morning and a front wheel detached (causing it to swerve off the road into a tree). A WOF probably would have picked this defect up (worn wheel bearings, suspension etc).
In the UK the full throttle test used to break cambelts and destroy engines...
There was a fun one in Ireland with the mid 2000s Ford Mondeo: The testers would put a temperature probe down the dipstick tube to get the oil temperature, but it Turns out Ford or put it very close to the crankshaft, which would supposedly snag the probe and try to winch the test machine into the engine bay, destroying the engine in the process. Not sure if it's true though ...
At least you have a good attitude
Viel Spaß mit dem Ding...
We had a 2002. It had the same ignition thing. Steering locks when ignition is off and when key is out.
Now try to imagine getting a 20 year old, highly modified FD RX-7 through this inspection. Cheers... :D
You can, but each and every mod have to be TÜV approved. Either by you (expensive) or by the manufacturer of the part (less expensive for you). Bring the TÛV approval document for each mod, and they will add it into your registration document.
@@mabs503 oh really!?
@@081588101 yeah it's not a problem just a bit costly when you do alot. Some mods don't need any documents at all. Extra gauges for example. But everything car/body related
@@MyILoveMinecraft no shit?
@@081588101 basically if you modify the car you have to do a very rigorous (and costly) inspection, almost the same kind the manufacturer goes through to approve the cars for sale, which honestly makes perfect sense. If you think about it its ridiculous that in the US the car to be sold has to pass a bunch of tests and regulations and after buying it anyone can modify it in ways that it will no longer meet those legal standards.
Here in Portugal that more rigorous inspection (called a type B, as opposed to the yearly type A thats legally required) is tough enough that no one modifies their cars. Stuff like an engine swap, even if the engine youre swapping is the exact same spec from a similar car, require a type B inspection, same for using a tire measure thats different from the original the car came with
Hello. Thinking of taking a 2017 grand caravan to Germany next year. Should I be worried about the inspection with this type of car? Thanks
As a german I. think the inspection is even not strict enough... Not every inspection station is testing the shocks... Most people drive around without knowing they got bad shocks and that extends your breaking distance by a lot... I drive an 12 year old Toyota diesel and just replaced the shocks and all bushings passed the emissions test with just one full throttle run... no issues found on my inspection certificate. Maintenance is key... That's why you don't see stranded cars here on every corner... a well maintained car takes the stress out when you go full throttle on the Autobahn....
The steering will not lock when you have the gear selector out of park.
It’s a manual I think though. Didn’t see the Column Shifter.
16:35
Oh you were referring to those videos.
Yeah, I feel like the inspector is making a mistake here, somehow.
In my experience with brake rollers for inspections here in NZ it's a night and day difference between cold brakes and hot brakes. Drive around the block riding the brakes hard and they'll come back within allowable imbalance
no those drum brakes sucks they are simple and hard to sudden fail but they are weak as theres no pressurised fluid forcing them to hold on drums
Similar to what we have in New Zealand.
So how much time do you get to fix the issues before you have to get the vehicle inspected again? Is it legal to drive during that time? If not, how do you get it home and to the shop without getting in trouble?
27:24 CAT
Tried the lock and key thing on our 1999 Voyager. If the key is in, it will not lock. Pull the key out and it locks. This is how it normally works.
Either the older model has a lock that works differently (they both have all the same positions though), or all the ones we saw on the video clips were defective...
'99 would be third gen, his is a 2nd gen, I feel like that may be one of the changes they made.
If I recall correctly the last position on the column says "lock" so key in or no it will lock
Pretty much same procedure here in Finland. But our cars are older and crappier than German's cars and in here it's more challenging to get your rust bucket a pass...
Geeeeez what a test hahaha.
I thought steering lock is actually a safety feature for parking on hills. You can lock the steering in the correct direction.
The steering lock itself was not the problem but that it was activated while the key was still in the car, which can be dangerous if you have to turn down your engine for some reason while your driving.
It will only lock the steering when the gear selector is in park.
@@MatthewMoss644 it's a manual car not an auto there is no "gear selector"
And then people in the US wonder why their German car requires such consistent and attentive maintenance.
What a great series. They are all fun and cute as can be. Can't wait to see more
He is lucky he only had a hose clamp come loose under high RPM; I've had an idler pully on a serpentine belt setup seize up(vehicle only had ~100k miles on it) which in turn caused the belt to snap. The belt was not frayed, nor excessively stretched and there were no noises that you would normally associate with a failing idler pulley. Besides the idler pulley that had completely seized; the other idler pully and the tensioner pulley was also found to be failing. The vehicle maintenance schedule had the belt replacement at 120k miles, so I certainly wasn't expecting to have problems related to it. I was on a road trip at the time and the nearest town with an auto parts store was 40 miles away. That was not a fun evening but, I did get lucky in one sense because the weather wasn't bad.
Also, several months later the pulley on the AC compressor went out and I suspect that was related.
A lot of cars only Locke the steering when the key is removed, but some don’t lock at all, just remove the ring
Enjoyed the video. That’s pretty harsh. I’m sure none of my vehicles would pass. We are spoiled in the USA compared to most of the world. I’d imaging a 70’s - 80’s full size American car would shake right off the lift during that suspension test. Repair shops must do a brisk business over there.
They actually don't. Shops in Germany are so ridiculously expensive most people don't bother and the junk cars get exported to eastern europe to pollute our roads.
I believe vehicles are tested against the standards of the time. So if it was safe to be sold in the 70s or 80s from the factory it’ll pass because it’ll be tested on 70s or 80s test. That’s how it works in my European country at least.
Also once they get to 40 years old they’re exempt from their yearly inspection any way.
@@olliewebbuk over 30 years you can register a vehicle as "hystoric" but you still have to do the safety check every 2 years...just dont have to pay so much tax and insurance for it...
@@olliewebbuk AFAIK that only pertains to the emissions testing, everything else is tested the same. Of course there is some other stuff like not requiring type certificates for some aftermarket parts if the car is from a time they weren't required. Also 30 years is usually the age for classic cars in most countries.
Yeah, it is not the repair shops that make money in Germany, but instead the car manufacturers. Germany has a reputation for buying back classic cars once exported because the 20-30 year old cars have already been crushed :D
We *need* this kind of harsh inspection here in Australia. There are far too many unsafe cars on our roads and this would weed out a lot of them.
Most likely not, like in all these countries it measurably does more harm than good environmentally and financially.
@@awesomeferret could you eleborate?
Meanwhile here in NZ our old cars have to go through pretty much this same test every 6 months
That's how most vans from that era in america were designed.. referring to the steering column
Uneven brakes are the worst thing to test, it sometimes can't be detected without the brake test bench, lot of shops have them
How do you know if the parking brake is to weak if someone hadn't actually checked it? Does it cause the van to roll forward a bit when you put it in park?
after reading all these comments its outrageous how strict is it in other countries, i live in eastern europe and in my inspection all they do is check for oil drips and if the car is not falling apart from the rust, my car had non working speedometer and almost a hole in the floor and it still passed with flying colors
Checked lights, but missed the non-illuminating third brake light...
there might now even be one this is a us thing but european they don't care about third brake lights there
@Him Him shouldn't be if it's the us was mandatory by the fed in the 70 80s I'll have to look it up but was mandatory in the us if your car was built before mandate it doesn't have to comply
@Him Him 1986 was made mandatory for all cars sold in the us
@Him Him your supposed to be ticketed
We have no inspections after the initial one here in VIC Australia, you can literally drive any shitbox you want.
In Canada, the inspection depends on the province, with many only requiring an inspection when a new owner registers it, so a car bought new and owned for 40 years will never have been inspected. Some provinces have yearly inspections, but mostly in the Atlantic provinces and not as well instrumented as Germany's. Emissions inspections depend on the province, with many not requiring them. Dynos are expensive when we have such a low population density, so it's usually only major cities that require them.
I'm from NB and we have recently moved to a 2 year inspection here, finally, like NS. I think if inspections were that thorough here, most people would have to stop driving all together due to the impossible standards for an older vehicle (that a normal person could afford here) to conform to in this environment and there would only be brand new vehicles on the road. The amount of salt used on the roads here simply devours a vehicle after a matter of time regardless of any corrosion prevention methods used. Older Western vehicles (particularly Alberta plated vehicles) can fetch a good premium here.
What province are you from Questioner?
@@Boilaroomnick, I've spent time in many provinces, including NL, ON, MB. I've driven cross-country many times, and really enjoy seeing the 80s cars like Tercels still in regular use in downtown Vancouver. After spending a while in Newfoundland, going to the mainland I begin to see old cars I'd forgotten about.
@@questioner1596 Right on! You don't see many older cars around here anymore unfortunately due to the salt. I own a 2004 Ranger and a 2005 Vibe. They are about as old as you will see still driving around in the Maritimes. I had to change the frame and box on my truck to keep it legal because of corrosion - normal maintenance here!
@@Boilaroomnick, nice. I had a Vibe for years, and I still see it driving around town. Aside from the 5 speed transmission seizing in the middle of nowhere (6 speed from 2ZZ bolted right in), it was the most reliable car I've owned. Never had to do suspension work in 5 years of ownership. It's definitely in better shape than if I still lived near the ocean.
When living in NL, I bought a 5 year old Pontiac Pursuit at auction with 130,000 km, and its rocker panels were already covered in rust. After that, I only bought cars that hadn't spent their whole lives on the island.
No inspections here in British Columbia unless you import a car or bring it in from another province., and I LOVE IT! Cops can pull you over and order an inspection, though. Commercial vehicles do get inspected.