Unfixed Safety Recalls Could Soon Sink Your Car's Roadworthiness Test Under EU Plans

Drivers who ignore a mandatory safety recall may soon find their car failing its periodic roadworthiness inspection outright. Under proposals being weighed by the European Parliament's transport committee, an outstanding compulsory recall would have to be checked as part of the test — and an unresolved repair or retrofit at the time of inspection would automatically mean a fail.

Today, a missed recall merely sits in the inspection report as a non-binding note with no bearing on whether the vehicle gets its sticker.

How inspectors would find out

The committee envisages two routes for flagging open recalls: cross-checking against the recall database of Germany's Federal Motor Transport Authority (the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt, or KBA), or querying the manufacturer directly using the vehicle identification number (VIN).

The scale of the problem is laid out in the KBA's own figures for 2025. The Flensburg-based authority recorded 676 recall campaigns over that period, and around 74,000 vehicles were formally deregistered and taken off the road the same year because their owners had not responded to calls for safety-related remedial work.

Airbags, emergency braking and electrified drivetrains

Modern equipment is also in the committee's sights. Airbags, automatic emergency braking and other assistance systems would become a fixed part of the inspection scope, since these components are not currently covered by the binding EU minimum standard for the test.

Extra checkpoints are planned for electric and hybrid vehicles as well, though precisely what they will involve has yet to be settled. National testing bodies would also be allowed to give greater weight to additional particle-number and nitrogen-oxide measurements — measures that would stay optional for member states rather than becoming mandatory across the bloc.

Also under discussion, without agreement so far, is a documentation duty for workshops, which would be required to record mileage on any repair lasting more than one hour.

Where the negotiations stand

None of the package has been formally adopted. After the negotiating mandate was confirmed in May 2026, representatives reached a first compromise on the mutual recognition of inspection certificates in a second round of talks on 20 October 2026.

Under that deal, a roadworthiness test carried out in another EU country would be recognised with a provisional certificate valid for six months, while the next regular inspection would still have to take place in the country of registration. Formal conclusion of the deliberations under the Irish Council presidency is scheduled for 2 December.

One idea from the European Commission — tightening test intervals for older vehicles — mustered no majority. The transport committee rejected the proposal to require annual inspections for cars over ten years old. The EU Council had already come out against the move at the end of 2025. The established rhythm therefore survives: a new car's first inspection falls due after three years, with the test then required every two years.

Testers say they are flying blind on driver assistance

A meta-study by the testing organisations, the TÜV association and FSD Fahrzeugsystemdaten underlines why inspection methods need updating. Because test centres rely heavily on a vehicle's on-board diagnostics when assessing modern driver assistance systems, serious defects can go unnoticed as long as the car's own diagnostic system does not raise a flag.

The study's authors assume a considerable number of vehicles are running with impaired functionality in their assistance systems. Causes cited include physical damage, ageing, ordinary wear and tear, faulty repairs and inadequate calibration.

Jürgen Wolz, a manager at TÜV Süd, is calling for more thorough function and effectiveness testing in day-to-day inspection work. The testing organisations also want reliable digital access to the relevant vehicle data. The stakes keep rising: under the General Safety Regulation II, core assistance systems have been mandatory for almost four years. According to the meta-study, roughly 50 percent of all cars on the road are likely to carry such systems by 2030. Tests carried out by the ADAC back in 2024 had already exposed functional limits in emergency braking, emergency lane-keeping and parking brake assistants.

What drivers face in the meantime

Whatever Brussels decides, existing obligations to present a vehicle for inspection remain unchanged. As the expert organisation DEKRA explains, the sticker on the rear licence plate shows exactly when the test is due: the two-digit number in the middle gives the year, and the digit at the 12 o'clock position gives the month.

A blue sticker bearing the number 26 means the inspection is due sometime in 2026. Once a passenger car with a two-year interval has passed, it receives a brown sticker for 2028.

Owners would be wise not to let deadlines slip. Overrun the date by more than two months and DEKRA says a more thorough supplementary inspection becomes mandatory, pushing the fee higher. TÜV Süd adds that, strictly speaking, a car with an expired sticker may only be driven directly to the test centre.

At roadside checks, penalties depend on how far overdue the vehicle is and what type it is: warnings or fines of up to 60 euros, plus a point in the Flensburg driving aptitude register. Learner drivers still within their probationary period could even see the offence classified as a B-type violation.