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The FTA new-vehicle inspection service
Page 77
Page 78
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by David H. G. Moody,
joint technical manager, Freight Transport Association THAT new trucks were not always as fit for the road as they should be has for a long time been a subjective judgment of transport operators. Even so FTA had something of a shock some two years Igo when it decided to expand its wideranging technical services with the introluction of a specific new-vehicle nspection and found an average of 8.53 lefects per vehicle, 1.58 of which were ikely to attract a GV9.
Recently published figures for 1973 ;how no improvement in this disturbng picture with 2,694 defects being .ound on the 310 vehicles 'inspected. These then are the harsh facts; an verage of 9.65 defects per new vehicle. n order to appreciate these figures it is ecessary to know something of the way .1 which they are obtained and how the arvice is operated.
larsh facts
The scheme is designed to fulfil two bjectives. First, to provide members of ie FTA with convenient and :onomical means of ensuring that their a.w vehicles are in a sound and worthy indition, before being put into service. acondly, to record the instances of fects found on the various makes and odels of vehicle inspected in order that iergetic representation may be made to anufacturers in the hope that the .oblems may be cured at source. This is irticularly so in the case of more rious defects and those which appear gularlv.
The service was introduced at the end 1972 and may be used by all of the ssociat ion's members. It is operated by FA's eighty-plus technical services .1d staff, all of whom are experienced insport engineers and highly trained hide inspectors. Ideally, inspections made at the distributor's premises in a short period of time between the hick being ready for service, with ;tributor's pre-delivery inspection, dybuilding, painting and lettering all mpleted. and the operator putting it o service. This requires as much tice of an inspection requirement as ssible and very close liaison between distributor. FTA and its member. Fortunately, there are only a few .-:asions when this is not achieved but las been known for an inspector to ive, by appointment, to undertake an inspection and to be warned to take care as the body work "is not quite finished", only to find that the body was poised in mid-air over the chassis on a precarious looking sling. Needless to say, under those conditions the inspection does not take place.
Visual check
The inspection carried out is a complete visual examination of engineering aspects of the vehicle including the correct installation and functioning of components, that is, engine, brakes, steering, etc. Also the compliance of the vehicle with various legal requirements — correct fitting and operation of lighting equipment and reflectors, the operation of windscreen wipers and washers, the correct fitting of seat belts when applicable, exhaust smoke emission, etc. It is surprising, for instance, the number of occasions on which rear reflective markers are fitted upside-down. This of course suggests the need for a quiet word with the bodybuilder and is not the type of defect to be referred back to the manufacturer.
The inspection also includes a road. and brake test, provided that no defect has been found by the inspector which renders the vehicle unroadworthy, and a check on all oil levels, an item not included in all vehicle manufacturers' PD! incidentally. A full written report is. made, at the time of the visit, of which two copies are made available to the member. A third copy is retained for FTA use as described later. In practice the member normally asks that a copy is left with the distributor in order that any necessary repairs or adjustments may be carried out. Any defect reported is marked by the inspector with a 'G' if he considers that its detection by a DoE examiner would result in the issue of a GV9 or prosecution, with an R' if repairs are required, or with an `S' if an item is noted which is likely to remain serviceable until the vehicle's next service.
In practice, of course, all items on new vehicles are either Gs or Rs as the operator is entitled to expect a new vehicle to be in first-class condition. If required a revisit may be planned during which the inspector will re-examine any items listed as defective to ensure satisfactory rectification. This is normally the scope of the inspection. However, special arrangements can be made for the inspector to check a vehicle against the company's particular specification. This is particularly useful to the larger national companies which use several suppliers throughout the country. They may not otherwise discover until after a vehicle has been put into service that it does not exactly comply with their specification. The Road Transport Industry Training Board, for example, is currently using this aspect of the service in order to confirm that vehicles supplied for driver training purposes conform to the Board's very detailed specification.
These arrangements fulfil the first objective of the service in that members have a convenient means of ensuring that a vehicle is sound, legal and is, in fact, the vehicle that was specified, before it leaves the distributor. The second aspect, that of recording and collating the inspection results, begins with the third copy of the vehicle inspector's report.
Defect code
FTA inspectors are supplied with a defect code which lists more than 260 possible defects in twelve separate groups; these are engine and cooling system; fuel system; exhaust system; transmission; rear axle; front axle; steering; suspension; chassis frame; and trailer fittings; brake system; electrical equipment and cab; body and cab equipment.
Each defect listed is transferred to a coding form by the inspector who also indicates in his coding whether the item was of serious or minor nature. The coding forms together with the third copy of the report are sent to FTA head office in Croydon where the figures are collated. From these figures it is possible to determine the types of defect which occur more frequently on all vehicles or on individual makes arid types.
As would be expected, the mediumprice range vehicles form the majority of the 310 vehicles inspected with foreign makes being represented by only a single vehicle each. While the small numbers of some makes of vehicle inspected at present do not allow a picture of recurring defects to be built up they do nevertheless provide food for discussion at the Association's regular liaison meetings with these manufacturers.
Figure No. 1 shows the numbers of vehicles inspected in easily identifiable groups of either make or type.
The nature of the results received can be seen by figure 2 which details the number of GV9-type defects detected in the twelve groups previously mentioned. It must be a matter for the gravest concern that by far the largest majority of such defects, in fact almost 45 per cent of the GV9 items found, relate in some way to braking systems. Of the 193 defects shown in this list, 25pc were air leaks, almost 16pc were hydraulic fluid leaks, 20pc were pipes or hoses fouling fixed members and about 9pc were pipes or hoses fouling moving parts. In the case of the last two of these categories it may well have been that at the time of inspection there was no imminent danger of failure. Most certainly if left undetected, however, these items could have developed into serious defects and in any event were likely to attract a GV9 as seen by the inspector. These figures alone must be a clear indictment of the production arid/ or predelivery inspection standards.
Electrics
The second largest group of defects likely to attract a prohibition order was the electrical equipment, with 94 of the 434 such items recorded. Earlier remarks are borne out in this section by 20pc of these defects relating to reflective markers or reflectors. Stop light defects are the next largest group with 12pc. Honours for third place are shared between direction indicators, rear lights and side lights, each with 10pc of the section total. Such an analysis of each section would, of course, be lengthy but it is rather surprising that on the new vehicles inspected only one of the twelve sections was GV9 free.
Figure 3 shows the defects which were recorded on 30 or more of the vehicles inspected and are, as will be seen, not restricted to GV9 items but also includes items which could result in costly and time-consuming breakdown. The list again gives cause to doubt vehicle manufacturers quality control methods and the standards of the distributors predelivery inspections.
The results of the new-vehicle inspections have also been produced for each of the makes or models listed in Figure I and while it is not intended to publish these figures it is fair to say that within comparable groups of vehicles standards do vary, perhaps measured in terms of reaction from "not too bad" to "good grief" (or stronger) in the case of one particular set of figures.
Having carried out the inspections and prepared the facts and figures the next step in the furtherance of the service is to bring the results to the notice of the various vehicle manufacturers involved. FTA has a programme of regular liaison meetings with most of the major British manufacturers and it is at these meetings that the results would normally be discussed. The agenda of these meetings is normally very full and does not allow for sufficient depth of discussion of the individual defects found. For th reason an additional series of meeting is now taking place between FT) technical services staff and technica members of the vehicle manufacturer staffs, at which the inspection report are made available and serious o repeated defects discussed.
Most manufacturers involved hay shown keen interest in such meetin and it can be reported that the attitud of those manufacturers with whoi meetings have already taken place been most encouraging. Little attempt made to find excuses or "play down" tlresults given. A genuine interest 11 been shown in obtaining informatic from these inspections and attemptir to find out where during the mani facturing or delivery process all was right.
Uniform standard
In its new vehicle inspection servi the FTA can provide benefits for concerned. By the inspection of ne vehicles to a high nationally unifor standard manufacturers can be pr vided with a further quality contn Vehicle distributors will benefit by n having new vehicles returned, after a f( weeks in service, by irrate custom( with a list of defects. The party with t most to benefit from the scheme is, qu naturally, the FTA member.
For around £10, depending upon t size and type of vehicle, the vehicle inspected and a report provided fr( which repairs or adjustments can carried out before the vehicle leaves I distributor. This eliminates the need costly down-time in returning I vehicle for defect rectification.
By the use of this service as a fl management exercise, peace of m may be gained in the knowledge that company's new vehicles, when put ii service, will be sound and legal, acce ing the limitations of a visual inspecti and free from the type of defects liste( Figure 3.