Airbag light - MOT failure?

[jimxms]

Forget timers, relays and other gadgetry. Just wire the ABS/SRS lights to your Oil level light.

On they come with the second click, off they go after a few seconds

Job done

[warch]

hora said:

Can you check all the wiring- connectors under both driver and passenger seat(s).

When I removed my passenger seat in my old mx5 it I pulled the connectors andf this trigged the light.

Could easily be caught on something then tugged when you moved a seat back and forth

The annoying thing is that on some cars like my next door neighbour's daughter's MINI you can mend the fault yourself but need to take the car to have the system reset so that the light goes out, apparently this can be quite expensive. I hate how bloody complicated they've made cars these days...

[Nick3point2]

Tonsko said:

thinfourth2 said:

how will hey test that?

no road test in the MOT

There's a few other bits to check on it as well:

Source said:

Speedometer

The car will fail if a speedometer is not fitted, is incomplete, inoperative, has a dial glass broken/missing or cannot be illuminated.

How they test 'inoperative' though I'm not sure.

When the driven wheels are turned for the brake test, the speedo should rise, although the speed it should go to is dependent on tyre size.

or, if its AWD and doesn't have a brake test, it has a road test.

[s1mmons]

Tonsko said:

Here's the AA's interpretation of the new req'ts for ease of reference.

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/car-servicing...

Edited by Tonsko on Wednesday 14th December 12:06

Just reading that AA link. Says at the top "Tyre pressure monitoring system warning light" will be checked, fair enough. But further down is says: "Tyre pressure monitoring systems fitted to vehicles first registered after 1 January 2012 must be working correctly and not indicating a malfunction."

Will my 2002 330ci get away with it ?

[kambites]

warch said:

The annoying thing is that on some cars like my next door neighbour's daughter's MINI you can mend the fault yourself but need to take the car to have the system reset so that the light goes out, apparently this can be quite expensive. I hate how bloody complicated they've made cars these days...

You can buy a OBD2 cable for about ten quid so you can both read and reset codes yourself (assuming you have a laptop, otherwise you can buy a hand-held device to do it for about 30 quid).

[Nick3point2]

jimxms said:

Forget timers, relays and other gadgetry. Just wire the ABS/SRS lights to your Oil level light.

On they come with the second click, off they go after a few seconds

Job done

Well, no, as the 'oil level' light is actually an oil pressure light, and won't extinguish until the engine is running. Other systems, like ABS and SRS illuminate the light when they go through the self checking start up routine, and extinguish regardless of whether the engine is started on not.


They may look it sometimes, but the people making the rule aren't thick!

[warch]

kambites said:

You can buy a OBD2 cable for about ten quid so you can both read and reset codes yourself (assuming you have a laptop, otherwise you can buy a hand-held device to do it for about 30 quid).

Cheers for that. That might come in very useful, especially if this airbag light thing is catching and my MINI gets infected. Or I can be a good neighbour and go and help fix the car next door.

[kambites]

warch said:

kambites said:

You can buy a OBD2 cable for about ten quid so you can both read and reset codes yourself (assuming you have a laptop, otherwise you can buy a hand-held device to do it for about 30 quid).

Cheers for that. That might come in very useful, especially if this airbag light thing is catching and my MINI gets infected. Or I can be a good neighbour and go and help fix the car next door.

In fact looking on Ebay, these days you can even get bluetooth ones which will talk to an Android phone.

[jimxms]

Nick3point2 said:

Well, no, as the 'oil level' light is actually an oil pressure light, and won't extinguish until the engine is running. Other systems, like ABS and SRS illuminate the light when they go through the self checking start up routine, and extinguish regardless of whether the engine is started on not.


They may look it sometimes, but the people making the rule aren't thick!

On 3 of my cars the oil light went out after about 5 seconds. The reason I suggested the above was because I've actually got a car wired that way (aftermarket steering wheel & traction control system disabled).

[stewies_minion]

Mine's in for an MOT today and the light is well & truly on.

My mechani insists it'll pass.

I hope it does - he reckons it'll be a pickle to fix.

Cars always turn to chocolate at Christmas. Helpful.

[mahesket]

How about my nissan micra, it had a replacement speedo unit before i bought it for one with a rev counter, everything works but the car it came from didn't have an airbag so no light! mine has an airbag!!

What will happen here?

cheers Matt

[Tonsko]

There is a small ray of sunshine:

[quote]
VOSA, the government agency responsible for the MOT, has indicated that 'failures' relating to the new test items will be treated as 'advisories' in the first three months. This means that if you have any of the following problems with your car you've got until the first MOT renewal date after 1 April 2012 to get it fixed.

[/quote]

[P I Staker]

s1mmons said:

Just reading that AA link. Says at the top "Tyre pressure monitoring system warning light" will be checked, fair enough. But further down is says: "Tyre pressure monitoring systems fitted to vehicles first registered after 1 January 2012 must be working correctly and not indicating a malfunction."

Will my 2002 330ci get away with it ?

Has your 2002 330CI been registered after the 1 January 2012? If it has then no.

[Jimmyarm]

thinfourth2 said:

how will hey test that?

no road test in the MOT

Most modern dashboards comprise a PCB with led's used for illuminating warning lamps., good luck wiring one of those in without ruining the unit

[va1o]

Tonsko said:

Sigh. This is going to further kill the 2nd hand market, and might make it harder for folks to get about if they're on a tight budget.

I'm not sure what the problem is? The requirements seem fair to me, if a vehicle is unable to meet them then its reasonable that it shouldn't be on the road until the issues can be rectified. I don't get why people don't see the potential seriousness of an airbag light been lit.

[maniac0796]

warch said:

I'm genuinely interesting in things like MOT's. The MOT has some strange anomalies, presumably to cope with unusual vehicles presented for test. Like if you present a car without a windscreen or with provision for folding the screen flat it doesn't need windscreen wipers. You can also have an assymetrical headlight arrangement for example. I heard (actually this was probably bks) that you could present a vehicle with a missing or non functioning engine and they wouldn't be able to test the emissons.

Actually to be honest I reckon my local test centre would tell me to fk off and bring it back with a working engine...

The thing with MOT's is, if the tester can't test it, he can't fail it. He can refuse to test a car though. The way faliures and advisorys are worded usually leave them open to interpretation as well.

[AlLondon]

kambites said:

warch said:

kambites said:

You can buy a OBD2 cable for about ten quid so you can both read and reset codes yourself (assuming you have a laptop, otherwise you can buy a hand-held device to do it for about 30 quid).

Cheers for that. That might come in very useful, especially if this airbag light thing is catching and my MINI gets infected. Or I can be a good neighbour and go and help fix the car next door.

In fact looking on Ebay, these days you can even get bluetooth ones which will talk to an Android phone.

This will only do engine, and even then will only be Emissions based engine so very limited.

I sell diagnostic tools for a living so ask away.

[Astra Dan]

va1o said:

I'm not sure what the problem is? The requirements seem fair to me, if a vehicle is unable to meet them then its reasonable that it shouldn't be on the road until the issues can be rectified. I don't get why people don't see the potential seriousness of an airbag light been lit.

Because a car is not dangerous to drive just because it hasn't got an airbag, or a working air bag, or ABS or TCS etc. The new MOT regs are trying to make people think they are and forcing them to fix pointless minor faults, or bin their perfectly usable safe older car and buy a Hyundai i30 POS.

Screw them. 75% of my fleet has none of these warning lights to worry about. But then I heard a rumour about 'banning classics' as daily runners....

And what about the working steering lock? Mind your own effing business!

[eltax91]

Interesting one about the speedo. My old Defender off roader has a very common problem with the speedo cable going tits up at the gearbox end, and is a PITA to fix. At the moment, the needle "jumps" with a variation of about 10 mph

The jumping settles down after 40 mph and the speedo is rock steady. So, how will they deal with this at MOT time?

[MrGman]

How is this going to work with cars that have been turned into track toys?

My Clio 172 no longer has any seatbelt pretensioners or airbags, the light is on but this has never been a problem. I've looked into havin the SRS ECU removed but apparently the main ECU checks for this during the start up and as it's not there obviously throws up the airbag light.

I'm all for cars being to a safe and roadworthy standard but i do hope they don't make it impossible to pass a car that has been modified.