Why did my Clio pass an MOT with two broken rear springs?

I bought a 2006 Renault Clio three years ago with 22,000 miles on the clock; it came with a new MoT certificate. I do about 6000 miles a year, mainly on local roads, but noticed that when I joined a motorway the car would oversteer (the back would move out), on the curve of the slip roads. Two weeks ago, it was MoT tested again and a certificate issued. I noticed the car had a noisy nearside wheel bearing, so asked another garage to look at it and they showed me that the two rear springs were both broken. They had obviously been broken a long time as they were badly corroded at the ends. Now they have been replaced, the car does not oversteer, so it seems to me that three MoTs might have been issued for a faulty car. Does anyone check the MoT stations?

Asked on 26 October 2013 by DS, Wirral

Answered by Honest John
Yes, VOSA does. So if you report this to VOSA, VOSA may at any time take a car that has been passed and re-test it, with repercussions on the MoT testing station. Amazingly, this is the third report today of coil spring failure on a European badged, European built car. I think the blame lies with the quality of steel and probably the ambient temperature because the main supplier of springs in Europe is situated somewhere that suffers severe cold in winter that makes the springs brittle and sets up stress fractures.
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