Verkehrssicherheit: Rund 20 Prozent der Nutzfahrzeuge fallen beim TÜV durch

More than one in five commercial vehicles failed a TÜV inspection for "significant" or "dangerous" defects, according to the latest report from TÜV Association. The defect rate has remained largely unchanged, while the average age of vehicles has increased to 8.9 years, a year more than in the 2017 report. Based on 2.37 million comprehensive inspections in 2024 and 2025, the report was presented to Deutsche Presse-Agentur.

Joachim Bühler, managing director of TÜV Association, said the common problems are oil moisture and oil loss, which increase with the age of the vehicle and can contaminate the environment and act as fire accelerants in an accident. Faults in lighting, especially the rear lights, were reported most frequently. While almost 22 percent of comprehensive inspections found significant or dangerous defects in light trucks (below 3.5 tonnes) and heavy trucks (18 tonnes and above), only 16.3 percent of medium trucks (7.5 to 18 tonnes) had such issues.

Light trucks (3.5 to 7.5 tonnes) had defects in 19.8 percent of inspections. The number of commercial vehicles registered in Germany has increased year on year, reaching nearly 3.9 million at the start of the current year, a 34 percent rise since 2017. Of these, 3.38 million are light trucks under 3.5 tonnes. In contrast, the stock of trucks weighing between 3.5 and 7.5 tonnes decreased by 13 percent between 2017 and 2026, while trucks over 7.5 tonnes increased by six percent over the same period.