MOT - Non adjustable Driver's Seat

[stevebroad]

We were discussing, at the pub last night, whether the driver's seat had to be adjustable when car is being MOT'd.

Taken from the MOT tester's manual:
Body, Structure and General Items - 6.2 Seats and Doors

3. Check that the drivers seat position can be adjusted forwards and backwards and secured in the selected positions.

If this is the case, how do rally cars with fixed seats pass the test?

[HorneyMX5]

If it adjusts it should, if it has a fixed seat (think Defender) then it can't be tested and can't be failed on it.

Fixed bucket seats are meant to be fixed and therefore cannot be a fail.

[blue_haddock]

Somewhere in the MOT Tester manual there is an exemption on a lot of things for heavily modified vehicles like rally cars.

[PAULJ5555]

Had a Merc CLK with electric seats and they stopped working, for 5 years it passed the MOT, I did know the tester so he may have been doing me a favor without me knowing.

I was the only one driving the car so had no real need to fix them

[paintman]

"6.2.5 Driver’s seat
You don't need to check that the driver's seat can be secured in all possible positions. For electrically adjusted seats, you don't need to check that any 'memory position' function is working."
and under the 'Defect' heading:
"b. A driver’s seat:
i. fore and aft adjustment mechanism not working as intended"
www.mot-testing.service.gov.uk/documents/manuals/c...

If the seat doesn't have a fore & aft adjustment mechanism then there is nothing to be tested.

Edited by paintman on Thursday 21st February 12:31

[anonymous-user]

If the seat has adjustments they have to work otherwise it is a fail.

If there are no adjustments then the rule does not apply and there is nothing to test therefore a pass.

[tribbles]

I had exactly the same argument with the guy that MOTd my kit car. He couldn't adjust it, so wanted to fail it.

I asked "can you move it between its minimum and maximum designed positions?"

Which he has to concede he could...

[stevebroad]

Just back from a conversation with my MOT station's owner. No issues with a fixed seat, or unopening windows, so all's right with the world and crisis averted :-)

[ARHarh]

I cant say I have ever seen an MOT tester check the seats move, they check to see they don't move when locked in position.

Surely defenders have adjustable seats my series 2a has an adjustable seat, and they are standard.

[thecremeegg]

See now I get a lot of the stuff they check on the MOT, but if the seats move? How does that make the car unroadworthy?

[anonymous-user]

A seat suddenly moving could lead to a loss of or interference with control. The seat check is a safety check.