10-year-old cars to be tested annually

ANNUAL testing of cars over 10 years old will commence in June 2011, Transport Minister Noel Dempsey has announced.

From April 1, excessively noisy exhausts and tinted windows will be effectively banned as a result of changes in the national car test.

Mr Dempsey said currently two-thirds of cars aged 10 years and older don’t pass the test first time round and are more likely to be involved in a collision. Almost half of collisions in 2007 involved vehicles that are nine years old or more.