{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T15:59:28Z","timestamp":1780329568151,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,24]],"date-time":"2022-06-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1656028800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Road traffic accidents result in injury or even death of passengers. One potential cause of these accidents is mechanical failures due to a lack of vehicle maintenance. In the quest to identify these mechanical failures, this paper aims to set up the procedure to identify the mechanical failures that contribute to traffic accidents in cities located in developing countries, including the city of Cuenca-Ecuador. For present research, a database provided by the entity responsible for the Vehicle Technical Inspection, the Empresa P\u00fablica Municipal de Movilidad, Tr\u00e1nsito y Transporte and for the ones responsible of managing traffic accident data, Oficina de Investigaci\u00f3n de Accidentes de Tr\u00e1nsito and Secci\u00f3n de Investigaci\u00f3n de Accidentes de Tr\u00e1nsito was used. The vehicle subcategories M1 and M3 (bus type) and N1, so named according to Ecuadorian technical standards, were considered the most relevant regarding accident rates. The database was analysed with descriptive statistics, a Pareto chart and time series with the quadratic trend. From this analysis, the most significant failures found in the VTI in all three subcategories were the alignment of the driver headlight, both horizontal and vertical, braking imbalance on the 2nd axle, insufficient tire tread and parking brake effectiveness. All these failures showed a decreasing trend over time and in the forecast at a maximum of two to three years. The most relevant causes of road accidents recorded during the period 2009\u20132018 related to mechanical failures were the braking system (65.5%) and the steering system (17.2%) for subcategory M1.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph19137787","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,26]],"date-time":"2022-06-26T09:00:13Z","timestamp":1656234013000},"page":"7787","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":11,"title":["Identification of the Mechanical Failure Factors with Potential Influencing Road Accidents in Ecuador"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"19","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6747-3169","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Juan Pablo","family":"Montero-Salgado","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Machine Engineering Division, Escuela T\u00e9cnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales (ETSII-UPM), Universidad Polit\u00e9cnica de Madrid (UPM), 28006 Madrid, Spain"},{"name":"Transportation Engineering Research Group, Universidad Polit\u00e9cnica Salesiana, Cuenca 010105, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jose","family":"Mu\u00f1oz-Sanz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Machine Engineering Division, Escuela T\u00e9cnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales (ETSII-UPM), Universidad Polit\u00e9cnica de Madrid (UPM), 28006 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0446-6417","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Blanca","family":"Arenas-Ram\u00edrez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University Institute for Automobile Research Francisco Aparicio Izquierdo (INSIA-UPM), Universidad Polit\u00e9cnica de Madrid (UPM), 28006 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9097-7776","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Cristina","family":"Al\u00e9n-Cordero","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Escuela Polit\u00e9cnica Superior, Universidad de Alcal\u00e1 (UAH), 28871 Alcala de Henares, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2020, February 10). 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