A method for detecting and compensating for defective print heads in an inkjet printing machine uses a computer to analyze printing nozzle test charts and/or area coverage elements to obtain characteristic values of individual printing nozzles in a print head, to calculate the failure probabilities of these printing nozzles on the basis of thresholds, and to compensate for a printing nozzle that exceeds a specified failure probability. The computer uses the individual failure probabilities of the individual printing nozzles in a print head to calculate the failure probability of the print head and initiates compensation measures as a function of the calculation. The thresholds correspond to a multi-dimensional characteristic value threshold based on which the computer calculates the failure probability of a printing nozzle by using an algorithm including kernel density estimation through a multidimensional distribution function.