reversing lamp MOT legalities?

[bryan35]

Quick question,

Colleague of mine has a 'difficult to fix' prob with the switching on of the reversing light when going into reverse gear.

If he simply had a switch to turn on the lamp manually, would this be an MOT pass?
ie, must the light come on automatically with reverse gear?


1986 VW type 25 automatic by the way.

[Ean218]

Why bother? It's not part of the test anyway.

[mrmr96]

Ean218 said:

Why bother? It's not part of the test anyway.

I thought that if a car had a lamp then it had to work?
(e.g. cars don't need front fogs, but if it has them then they have to work.)

[Ean218]

mrmr96 said:

I thought that if a car had a lamp then it had to work?
(e.g. cars don't need front fogs, but if it has them then they have to work.)

Not reversing lamps.

If you think about it they are showing white at the rear. The only legal issue can be if they are on when you are not reversing.

[doesnt post much]

mrmr96 said:

Ean218 said:

Why bother? It's not part of the test anyway.

I thought that if a car had a lamp then it had to work?
(e.g. cars don't need front fogs, but if it has them then they have to work.)

I thought this was the case too. I had an MOT on the '5 last week and they certainly looked like they were checking the reverse light...

[SS2.]

doesnt post much said:

I had an MOT on the '5 last week and they certainly looked like they were checking the reverse light...

Probably just checking that other lights were not adversely affected by the operation of the reversing light.

[^Slider^]

From what i can find they are non testable items so cant be failed on them. However it is illegal for them not to work and hence a £30.00 fpn if stopped by police.

So no reversing lights will pass an MOT. But you may get a £30.00 fpn from the police.

Only problem i can see is if they are always on and they will fail on this i think.

[Amused2death]

I can find no mention of reversing lights being tested as part of the M.O.T. test.

Blank form shown here, and this has no reference to reversing lights

http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repository/MOT%20Inspec...

Sorry it's a PDF file.

HTH

[tvrgit]

^Slider^ said:

From what i can find they are non testable items so cant be failed on them. However it is illegal for them not to work and hence a £30.00 fpn if stopped by police.

So no reversing lights will pass an MOT. But you may get a £30.00 fpn from the police.

Only problem i can see is if they are always on and they will fail on this i think.

Definitely not testable, but - is there a legal requirement for vehicles to be fitted with reversing lamps at all?

And if so, are they legally required to work?

I thought the answer to both of those questions was "no" (same with front fog lamps)

[vonhosen]

tvrgit said:

^Slider^ said:

From what i can find they are non testable items so cant be failed on them. However it is illegal for them not to work and hence a £30.00 fpn if stopped by police.

So no reversing lights will pass an MOT. But you may get a £30.00 fpn from the police.

Only problem i can see is if they are always on and they will fail on this i think.

Definitely not testable, but - is there a legal requirement for vehicles to be fitted with reversing lamps at all?

And if so, are they legally required to work?

I thought the answer to both of those questions was "no" (same with front fog lamps)

Reversing lamps are optional.

[mrmr96]

tvrgit said:

^Slider^ said:

From what i can find they are non testable items so cant be failed on them. However it is illegal for them not to work and hence a £30.00 fpn if stopped by police.

So no reversing lights will pass an MOT. But you may get a £30.00 fpn from the police.

Only problem i can see is if they are always on and they will fail on this i think.

Definitely not testable, but - is there a legal requirement for vehicles to be fitted with reversing lamps at all?

And if so, are they legally required to work?

I thought the answer to both of those questions was "no" (same with front fog lamps)

You don't see many cars without reversing lights.
You do see lots of cars without front fog lights.

You'd think that if they weren't mandatory then some (specialist) cars would not have them? Obviously mainstream cars there is a significant advantage to having them, but specliast cars less so. Does a Radical have them? How about a CaparoT1? (Genuine questions.)

[jagracer]

mrmr96 said:

tvrgit said:

^Slider^ said:

From what i can find they are non testable items so cant be failed on them. However it is illegal for them not to work and hence a £30.00 fpn if stopped by police.

So no reversing lights will pass an MOT. But you may get a £30.00 fpn from the police.

Only problem i can see is if they are always on and they will fail on this i think.

Definitely not testable, but - is there a legal requirement for vehicles to be fitted with reversing lamps at all?

And if so, are they legally required to work?

I thought the answer to both of those questions was "no" (same with front fog lamps)

You don't see many cars without reversing lights.
You do see lots of cars without front fog lights.

You'd think that if they weren't mandatory then some (specialist) cars would not have them? Obviously mainstream cars there is a significant advantage to having them, but specliast cars less so. Does a Radical have them? How about a CaparoT1? (Genuine questions.)

Lamps are not obligatory for the MOT, you can remove all of them and it wont fail, A non working reversing light isn't a fail.

Edited by jagracer on Tuesday 26th January 16:50

[Ledaig]

Going from about 20 years ago, if you fitted a manual switch in the car, there had to be a warning light alerting the driver that it/they were on.

[SS2.]

tvrgit said:

..is there a legal requirement for vehicles to be fitted with reversing lamps at all?

And if so, are they legally required to work?

I also think the answer to both of those questions is 'no'..

The Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 said:

23.(1) No person shall use, or cause or permit to be used, on a road a vehicle unless every lamp, reflector, rear marking and device to which this paragraph applies is in good working order and, in the case of a lamp, clean.

(2) Save as provided in paragraph (3), paragraph (1) applies to-

(a) every-
(i) front position lamp,
(ii) rear position lamp,
(iii) headlamp,
(iv) rear registration plate lamp,
(v) side marker lamp,
(vi) end-outline marker lamp,
(vii) rear fog lamp,
(viii) retro reflector, and
(ix) rear marking of a type specified in Part I of Section B of Schedule 19, with which the vehicle is required by these Regulations to be fitted; and

(b) every-
(i) stop lamp,
(ii) direction indicator,
(iii) running lamp,
(iv) dim-dip device,
(v) headlamp levelling device, and
(vi) hazard warning signal device,

with which it is fitted.

[rewc]

^Slider^ said:

So no reversing lights will pass an MOT. But you may get a £30.00 fpn from the police.

If the Officer was kind enough to offer rectification under the VDRS would a MOT station be willing to check an item that is not required for the MOT?

[^Slider^]

rewc said:

^Slider^ said:

So no reversing lights will pass an MOT. But you may get a £30.00 fpn from the police.

If the Officer was kind enough to offer rectification under the VDRS would a MOT station be willing to check an item that is not required for the MOT?

Its down the the MOT testing station, some may charge, some may just take a look and make sure its fixed.

Any mot testing station will check anything for a VDRS as they usually chaarge for the service.

[Puddenchucker]

Euro regs:

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE of 27 July 1976 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the installation of lighting and light-signalling devices on motor vehicles and their trailers (76/756/EEC)

Euro Regs said:

4.4. Reversing lamps

4.4.10. Electrical connections

It can only light up if the reverse gear is engaged and if the device which controls the starting or stopping of the engine is in such a position that operation of the engine is possible.

It must not light up or remain lit up if either of the above conditions is not satisfied.

[tvrgit]

Right so we've established that if a vehicle has reversing lights, they can only come on when the vehicle is reversing. We've also established that reversing lights aren't part of the MOT.

That doesn't answer the question that remains though from earlier posts: ie can you be fined if your reversing lights don't work? I don't think you can.

So again: (a) must a vehicle have reversing lights, and (b) if it does, must they work.

[tvrgit]

^Slider^ said:

rewc said:

^Slider^ said:

So no reversing lights will pass an MOT. But you may get a £30.00 fpn from the police.

If the Officer was kind enough to offer rectification under the VDRS would a MOT station be willing to check an item that is not required for the MOT?

Its down the the MOT testing station, some may charge, some may just take a look and make sure its fixed.

Any mot testing station will check anything for a VDRS as they usually chaarge for the service.

Reversing lights wouldn't come under VDRS if there's no legal obligation to have them.

[rewc]

tvrgit said:

^Slider^ said:

rewc said:

^Slider^ said:

So no reversing lights will pass an MOT. But you may get a £30.00 fpn from the police.

If the Officer was kind enough to offer rectification under the VDRS would a MOT station be willing to check an item that is not required for the MOT?

Its down the the MOT testing station, some may charge, some may just take a look and make sure its fixed.

Any mot testing station will check anything for a VDRS as they usually chaarge for the service.

Reversing lights wouldn't come under VDRS if there's no legal obligation to have them.

So I assume Slider is incorrect when he says that a Police Officer could issue a FPN for them being inoperable?

Edited by rewc on Tuesday 26th January 21:03