58% of All Vehicle Lifts Have Defects

• Inspectors classify one in five defects as dangerous
• Tests must be performed at least once a year

In the first half of 2016, DEKRA inspectors found defects in more than half of all vehicle lifts in German car repair workshops. The expert organization released this evaluation at the automechanika trade show in Frankfurt. According to this, 58% of the tested lifts had problems.

Overall, the experts evaluated around 8,000 tests on the most common types of vehicle lifts, namely column-type lifts, cylinder-type lifts and scissor lifts. Defects were found in over 4,600 of these tests. For instance, the defects affected the areas of electrical and electronic systems, design and equipment, safety devices and load-bearing parts.

Among all the vehicle lift types, 20% of defects were classified as dangerous and 24% were classified as considerable. 25% were minor defects and another 30% were merely informational.

If the individual vehicle lift types are considered separately, some significant differences can be seen. While column-type and scissor lifts had comparable defect rates of 56% and 55% respectively, around two thirds of cylinder-type lifts had problems (67%). Although these lifts had more defects, these were less serious on average. Inspectors reported the smallest proportion of dangerous defects here (8%). This figure was significantly higher for scissor lifts (13%) and column-type lifts (26%).

In accordance with the applicable regulations in Germany, all vehicle lifts must be inspected at least once a year.

Compared to the results of DEKRA tests in the first half of 2015, the results for 2016 do not indicate any considerable changes. At the time, column and scissor lifts had a defect rate of 54% and 57% respectively, while cylinder-type lifts had a defect rate of 68%.