Full vehicle inspections are to resume at eight National Car Test Service (NCTS) centres this week following the replacement of vehicle lifts used when carrying out underbody checks.
An element of the national car test (NCT) had been suspended nationwide last week due to safety fears over the lifts.
The decision was taken after the NCTS and Road Safety Authority (RSA) were made aware of a defect with a similar make and model of lift used to elevate vehicles.
In a statement on Tuesday, the NCTS said lifts would be replaced at eight centres – Galway, Waterford, Limerick, Letterkenny, Killarney, Cork, and in Swords and Fonthill in Dublin.
Lifts were being replaced at six locations last week – Ballinasloe, Athlone, Skibbereen, Ballina, Enniscorthy and Deansgrange, south Dublin.
‘Remaining lifts’
A spokeswoman for the NCTS said the service commissioned a condition survey of all vehicle lifts by the manufacturers when it was made aware of the problem. This assessment is expected to be completed by the end of this week.
She said the NCTS and the manufacturer would “immediately begin a programme of repairing the remaining lifts within the network over the coming weeks” after the survey.
She said the NCTS and RSA were “continuing to look into other measures to minimise customer inconvenience and will provide further updates in the coming days”.
Motorists are advised to book and attend their NCT as normal and that checks, apart from the underbody inspection, would be conducted. Motorists will have to return to have the underbody check when the lifts are operational.
There is no charge in these situations as long as the vehicle passed all other elements of the test.
