Inspection: ‘Some wheels do not meet approval requirements’

There are car wheels available on the Dutch market that are not strong enough to meet the European approval requirements and therefore entail a safety risk. This is the conclusion of the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate after three tests with wheels (which fit several car models) from the cheaper market segment. These tests show that six of the nine tested wheels cannot withstand the forces that the majority of cars have to endure.

These tests must be passed successfully for approval according to UN/ECE Regulation No. 124 of the European Union, but a large proportion of the tested wheels therefore do not receive that approval. This means that there is too great a risk of cracking or breaking of the wheels with (long-term) heavier loads, with all possible consequences. However, simply banning that light metal from the market is impossible; the Road Traffic Act 1994 – applicable to products on the Dutch market – is insufficient for this purpose.

Legislative change is needed

According to the Inspectorate, this law should be amended in order to prevent wheels with insufficient strength from entering the market. This is being raised today in the House of Representatives. In the near future, they may consider amending the legislation, so that wheels with insufficient load-bearing capacity will no longer be for sale in the future. Until then, the motto is: if you purchase a set of (cheap) rims, check yourself whether they meet the correct type approvals.

The trend to mount increasingly larger (and often non-original) wheels has already been extensively discussed on AutoWeek.nl. Experts also state in that article that there is a lot of chaff among the wheat.

Image above article: part of the wheels tested by the inspection. Source: Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate.