Overview
- Drawing on roughly 9.5 million inspections from July 2024 to June 2025, the report shows 21.5% of cars had significant or dangerous faults and only 66.1% were defect-free, the fourth annual deterioration since 2022.
- The average passenger car in Germany is now 10.6 years old, with defect rates increasing sharply with age and more than a quarter of the fleet at least 15 years old.
- Eighteen electric models were evaluated, with recurring findings on axle and suspension stress, corroded brake discs from recuperation, and lighting faults; Tesla’s Model Y posted a 17.3% defect rate in the 2–3 year class, while the Model 3 logged 13.1%.
- Mazda 2 led the 2–3 year cohort with a 2.9% defect rate, and EVs such as the Mini Cooper SE, Audi Q4 e‑tron and Fiat 500e performed strongly, whereas BMW 5er/6er, Dacia Duster and Renault Clio ranked among consistent laggards in older brackets.
- The TÜV-Verband urges modernizing inspections with deeper high‑voltage checks, standardized battery state‑of‑health and digital data access, as the report also counts about 135,000 cars with dangerous faults and roughly 12,000 immediately taken off the road.