New MOT Test Items

[oldford]

The new items that were meant to come into the test in January 2012 that kept on getting postponed will now be part of the test and failable from April 7th 2013. The test criteria on suspension coil springs will be changing back to what they were, any part broken or missing will be a fail.

[Des]

So how am I to stance my ride? Paving slabs? What about my human rights innit?

[garbaldy]

Does that mean an airbag light is a pass and advise untill april the 7th then?

[Lankytim]

The foglight on the saabs towbar wiring doesnt work, will that fail now?

[FredTransit]

AFAIK if a ligjt is titted its supposed to work (except recersing lights). I thought broken springs were already a fail. My mates escort failed on a broken spring last month.

[Junkman]

Does this mean that now the springs have to be intact to pass a test?

They are truly overdoing it.

[FredTransit]

There'll be a lot of unhappy bunnies on the blue forum.....

[garbaldy]

There'll be a lot of unhappy bunnies on the blue forum.....

 

 

Good I say get some of the shit handling pos unimaginative cars of the road

If a person can't afford to modify suspension properly ie proper springs then they should leave well alone.

[Tonka]

My Escort failed on a broken spring this very afternoon..........

[Jim Bell]

AFAIK if a light is titted its supposed to work.

 

If you hit them with a tit, they should work?

 

Fair play.

[autofive]

FredTransit wrote:

There'll be a lot of delusioned idiots on the blue forum.....

 

 

edited for accuracy

[FredTransit]

Ok that should have been FITTED! Damn tiny phone keyboard...... Oh and A5 I agree with you, but will replacement lowering springs pass then?

[Richard]

The foglight on the saabs towbar wiring doesnt work, will that fail now?

 

Only if it's a modern 13 pin socket, 7 pin sockets are only checked visually.

[Hertz]

Are front fog lights covered on the MOT? My rears work but fronts are not, I suspect a faulty switch....Being a Renault Alpine spares are shall we say scarce

[Albert Ross]

Front fog lights are not covered, save for the fact the glass should not present a sharp edge or be dangling if broken. Also, see rear wipers....

[Hertz]

Front fog lights are not covered, save for the fact the glass should not present a sharp edge or be dangling if broken. Also, see rear wipers....

Ta. One less thing to worry about then!

[chaseracer]

Does this mean that now the springs have to be intact to pass a test?

They are truly overdoing it.

But if I have a Micra with no springs at all, I should be fine.

 

No...?

 

 

[Rogue trader]

Front fog lamps are not part of the MOT test unless they have a sharp edge likely to cause damage to someone and as for the springs its really up to the individual tester as to what he dose. But a broken spring dose not technically mean its a fail, if it still sits in its mounting both on the ground and while its jacked up and dose not stick out as to cause damage or become unseated then you could pass and advise but a lot of garages thought would probably fail you to get the work, this is mainly on springs that are snapped near the end of course. VOSA are always trying to bring in new things but a lot of the time it just stays in limbo land a lot of stuff was ment come in last year and has still yet to do so. As for tow bar electrics the old 7 pin style is not testable its only the later 13 pin euro type that will come in to force soon hope this helps.

[Split_Pin]

I wasn't aware that there had been a change? All 3 of my cars have failed on broken 'pig tails' on the ends of the coil spring at some point. It's fun being in the car when they break, its like being shot at.

 

My first car got an advisory as it had lowering springs that unseated when jacked up as it still had standard dampers but my current cars that are lowered all have matched shortened dampers. Id be surprised if that was a fail now.

[robinmasters]

This won't stop purpose cutting springs, it'll only pick up on people who've done it badly, who'd probably get failed on something anyway.

[garbaldy]

Does that mean an airbag light is a pass and advise untill april the 7th then?

 

 

 

Anyone know the answer?

[wuvvum]

If a vehicle is fitted with twin rear foglamps from the factory, do they both have to work for the test, or is it OK if only the offside one works?

[Albert Ross]

Re: Airbag light, it's all still up in the air, but the RfR is still in the listings I think.... still selectable.... but apparently we can't use it.... or can we?

 

As for the foglights, as long as the offside works, stuff the nearside.

[simmo]

Just for fun, who on here has been MOT testing the longest, I haven't worked in the trade since 99 but I think I may have the earliest tester's number can anyone beat a four digit one starting with a seven?

[Albert Ross]

000015

All numbers changed in 2005 when computerisation kicked in, it all starts with the first 4 letters of the Tester's surname. I have a 0001 and a 0002 working with me, they have rare names, my name starts the same as one of their initial trial card runs......

[simmo]

OK thought they may of changed numbers over the years, I haven't had a refresher since the mid nineties so pretty clueless on the newer stuff but find some of the on line VOSA stuff is helpful and on here obviously

[wuvvum]

OK, here's one:

 

My Scenic is showing a "Check parking brake" message on the dash. There's bugger all wrong with the parking brake - it engages and releases perfectly, both manually and automatically; it locks both wheels solid when engaged and doesn't bind on when disengaged; and the "parking brake on" and "parking brake off" messages come up on the dash at the appropriate time, as does the handbrake idiot light when it's engaged.

 

I realise though that these days whether there is actually a fault or not doesn't matter in the slightest when it comes to an MoT - all that matters is what the computer thinks. My question is: would a simple "Check" message count as a failure, or would there have to be an actual "Parking brake failure" message or a warning light come up for the car to fail a test?

[oldford]

The method of inspection is:

 

7. On vehicles with an electronic parking brake, operate the switch to release and apply the parking brake and check that a malfunction is not indicated.

 

The reason for refusal is:

 

7. Electronic parking brake warning indicates a malfunction.

Note: An EPB malfunction may alternatively be indicated by a message on the dashboard.

 

If the check message is the only message that comes up when it thinks that the EPB is malfunctioning, it looks like a fail to me.

[philibusmo]

Put a bit of tape over the warning. Job jobbed.

[wuvvum]

The method of inspection is:

 

7. On vehicles with an electronic parking brake, operate the switch to release and apply the parking brake and check that a malfunction is not indicated.

 

The reason for refusal is:

 

7. Electronic parking brake warning indicates a malfunction.

Note: An EPB malfunction may alternatively be indicated by a message on the dashboard.

 

If the check message is the only message that comes up when it thinks that the EPB is malfunctioning, it looks like a fail to me.

The thing is, the malfunction isn't indicated when the parking brake is operated. The only messages that come up when the brake is operated are "Parking brake on" and "Parking brake off" respectively. The "Check" message comes up when the engine is first started, then disappears into the background after a few seconds to be replaced by the mileage display (or whichever function of the trip computer is selected). It's still there in the background and will show up if you scroll through all the trip computer functions, but it doesn't show up again unless you go looking for it.