The car/light goods vehicle MOT test is about to change. airbag lights to be inclused

The car/light goods vehicle MOT test is about to change – the European
Commission has changed the Directive that covers it. We take a look at
when these changes are likely to come into effect and what they mean
for MOT testers.
Britain has been testing vehicles
under the MOT scheme for 50
years now. Last year, the European
Directive covering the MOT test
was updated and revised by a
modern version called 2009/40/
EC. This was then updated by
2010/48/EU, which was ratified
on 5 July this year.
The new Directive keeps the EU
minimum 4-2-2 test frequency but
adds a number of new elements to
the British MOT test. The Directive
anticipates all test changes being
in place by 1 January 2012, and
a common European approach
to test certificates in place by
1 January 2014. So what is VOSA
doing to introduce the changes?
In terms of test frequency, in
mid-July the coalition government
confirmed that it intends ‘to look at
the issue of MOT test frequencies
later this year’. VOSA contributed
statistical data to inform the last
review in 2008, and we expect that
our computer system and the data
you have entered will be utilised
again in much the same way.
We expect to hear more details of
the government’s review proposals
later in the year.
As far as changes to the test
content are concerned, VOSA
has already been analysing the
requirements of the new Directive
and working out how to implement
them. We started this earlier in the
year by talking with representatives
of the MOT trade at our regular
Trade User Group and VTS
Council meetings. Both VOSA and
the Department for Transport (DfT)
are keen to ensure that any
changes to the test are introduced
in as practical a way as possible,
keeping the burden on the trade to
a minimum and ideally keeping the
changes cost neutral.
In many cases, the changes
shouldn’t necessarily lead to an
increase in average test times.
A good example is the malfunction
indicator lamps on the dashboard
that indicate defective electronic
power steering, electronic stability
control and secondary restraint
systems. Testers already check the
dashboard for other lamps, so no
extra time would be required for
this addition to the test.
Electrical wiring and batteries are
now included in the test’s scope,
but testers already check the
vehicle structure where wiring is
secured – often along the same
routes as other testable items,
such as brake pipes in the engine
compartment. So again, this
doesn’t look like an additional
burden on the tester. In the precomputerisation
days, testers often
(wrongly) failed vehicles for insecure
batteries, so they must have been
looking at them then! Now, it
means that when we implement
the new Directive, vehicles can
legitimately fail for battery insecurity,
for no extra tester effort.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repositor...Oct%202010.pdf

no one care then?
in short

I think fail for having a chipped ECU is a tad unfair, in some cases it improves an engines emissions.

Spot on about HID's ban the aftermarked kits alltogether please

Finally Doing Something about Rubbish HID kits
Wish people would realise you can get just as good lights by buying decent Bulbs to start with

Lots of unhappy Car park Chavs are gonna cry now

But you know what they'll do - they'll just swap back to normal lights and then when MOT is done, put HID's back in

Ziggy

People with remaped ECU's dont always tell the next owner. What happens if you genuinely don't know your car has a remap?

I guess the prices of "Tuning Boxes" will soon start to rise as everyone switches to the "Plug & Play" type tuning products. Just plug it all back in once the car has passed the MOT.

Cheap HID kits are crap. Good quality bulbs in well maintained headlights are sufficient. Need more light, install a good quality set of spot lights.

The remap/chip issue is an absolute joke everything else is fine.

Agreed.
Im assuming the McKrich chip counts, does the MK1 Punto have an OBD port?

That will be me ****ed then. I would need to replace all of the seats, refit steering wheel and rewire the horn.
Then take off the remap when i finally get it.
All to get an MOT. I just like to think of the extra miles i will need to do to achieve this. Not very carbon friendly is it now.

EU is a Joke. The sooner we get out of it the better TBH.

Interesting reading:

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/...74:0096:EN:PDF

http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/repositor...ber%202010.pdf

Remap Detection.
As most dealers have online access to the default MAP's installed on their vehicles I don't think it would be to much trouble to allow MOT stations to have access to them. This would allow for the quick and simple comparision of the data stored on the cars eprom via the OBD port with the data stored online by the dealers.

bump

I thought this was what they did anyway? Only has to meet MOT requirements for the actual test and not for the day to day running over the course of a year.

Few things come to my mind with this, and I spoke to an experience MOT tester yesterday.

1) There is no training planned so far, and its only 11 months away.

2) Airbag light illuminated indicates a fault. If the airbag and bulb are removed, no fault?

3) The manufacturers charge dealers to have the diagnostic information, about £250 per month per franchise. Fine if you get your car MOTd at the franchise, but what is supposed to happen if your car isn't that franchise, or its a smaller non franchised garage. Either its not gonna happen or the costs are going through the roof.

Cheers

D

i hope it dont happen but the website its on seems legit? when it all went computerised a lot of small independents didn't think it would happen as some had never even turned on a pc before, but that happened

Re the remap issue.

So what happens when a car turns up with an engine change such as a Cento with a 1.2 Punto engine? Or, as I have seen a 1985 Grandad with a twin turbo V8 in it?