New EU MOT rules on the UK from tomorrow

[dave docwra]

Have to agree with Wooie1958 so many people have not got a clue on how or what basic checks need to be completed on a vehicle, I work with drivers who drive heavy vehicles for a living & some need all the safety features fitted to get them through the day.

Dave..

 

[edina]

In my opinion most people out there wouldn`t even Know or Care if they had a problem with their tyres !

A few weeks back whilst driving home the car infront had a virtually flat rear tyre and was carrying on without a care in the world.

We came to some traffic lights which i know take for ages to go through the sequence, so i popped out to tell the driver it was nearly flat.

They saw me coming in the wing mirror and lowered the window , i asked if they knew it was nearly flat and their response was :-

" What The F**k Has That Got To Do with You " and shut the window !

Sad world ain't it!

 

[ricc]

my brother in law lives in spain now...the mot is a bit different over there...i gather its done at government testing stations that dont do repairs.... you drive youre own car onto the brake tester...ive heard a tale of the gov inspector pulling a spanish girl out the driving seat to redo the brake test with him pushing the pedal cos he thought it was failing cos she wasnt pressing hard enough on the pedal..

my car has abs .. only time ive noticed it working was when doing a stopping test on an icy snowy lane ten yards from my own front gate... im of the opinion its unnecessary for a competant driver on the road.

 

[Deleted member 24143]

my brother in law lives in spain now...the mot is a bit different over there...i gather its done at government testing stations that dont do repairs.... you drive youre own car onto the brake tester...ive heard a tale of the gov inspector pulling a spanish girl out the driving seat to redo the brake test with him pushing the pedal cos he thought it was failing cos she wasnt pressing hard enough on the pedal..

my car has abs .. only time ive noticed it working was when doing a stopping test on an icy snowy lane ten yards from my own front gate... im of the opinion its unnecessary for a competant driver on the road.

I lived in France for some time and the test is done every 2 years by the government. The test centres do not do repairs so if you fail then you have to either fix it yourself or take it somewhere else then return for a retest. The French inspector I went to was very helpful and once pointed out that my steering joint on one wheel was wearing and to have it replaced but didn't fail my car.

The system used here in the UK is open to abuse by garages who fail cars just so they can make money. It is better to have your MOT done at a council facility if possible.

A point was made about airbags but if you disable the passenger airbag for safety reasons, you might have a backwards facing baby seat fitted, then would this mean a fail because the airbag isn't working?

 

[Deleted member 4850]

IMO every new driver should have skid pan training in a car without all the bells and whistles and get a certificate for it before they sit their test. Needless to say this would be ruled far too costly. There's so much atrocious driving about it's frightening. We taught our kids to drive both off road and on road, in old Volvos mainly, and took them all terrain karting when they were kids...they could opposite-lock years before they took their tests and now I feel totally safe with both of them.

Contrast that with yesterday: I had a lass of about 18 years old, on her phone the whole time, driving two inches from my rear bumper for 8 miles on a slushy road where there wasn't a cat in hell's chance of getting past me. On a blind bend in the middle of Lochmaben I had to stop to let an oncoming HGV past and thunk! she hit my rear step! Then she reversed and raced off down a side road! No damage to me but you see this kind of idiot driving so often now it's practically the norm. and we have to make cars and MOT's to save their stupid skins...grrrr!!:mad2:

 

[Wooie1958]

[No message]

 

[jogguk]

[No message]

 

[Teutone]

Oh dear oh dear....

You know so much about racing cars........errrmm nothing?

Racing cars having NO ABS is not because it's better without it. It's actually quite the opposite. If somebody would bother to take you round a race track in a touring car with a properly tuned 4 channel ABS, I can garantee you will need new underpants afterwards because you won't believe how late one can brake right down to the apex. Even with dry/wet mix on the track. NO driver in the world brakes better than this. Fact. Because as a driver with manual brakes you can only control 2 wheels at a time, not all 4 individually as the ABS can.
And with a manual braking system you will have to life with a SET brake balance front to rear (to a degree, there as some rear break limiter sytems in some cars). The 4 channel ABS will ALWAYS brake ALL four wheels with the maximum traction available from the EACH tyre.

How are YOU going to do this??

They only ban ABS to make the races more spectacular for the the fans because all the driver aids can work so efficent that it would be a much more boring race.
The real challenge is to have the driver aids (in a racing car) always mapped to give the maximum at the given condition.
You can't compare this to the road going ABS which has a lot of variables to cope with and is mapped a little bit more on the "conservative" side. And most of the newer cars now have 4 channel ABS, the older or cheaper cars do only feature 3 channel. (3 channel = 2 front wheels independent + both rear wheels)

And ABS took so long to come to bikes because bikes do something very different to cars in case you haven't noticed. They LEAN over when going round bends. Simply the hardware and software took much longer to develop to make a BIKE ABS working reliable. And not because manual braking is better. If you are a drivng god that is.

Only because your son is running round a racing track on a bike does't make you an expert.

 

[n brown]

Not just warning lights and stuff.

It now covers tow bars and a full functioning check of 13pin tow sockets. 7 pin sockets only require a visual check though.
I have seen some weird tow bar lash-ups on M/H's in the past

I'm screwed then as I have an American 4 pin flat trailer socket:rolleyes2 Never actually towed a trailer)

John

don't forget,if it's not there it can't be tested.take off the towhitch and the socket/s and tape up the wires

 

[hughb]

Long live older vehicles!!

Guess my dear old (1986) Mercedes will fly through as normal in a few weeks - no CAT, airbags, a speedo still run on a speedo cable. No electronics, no problem.

 

[yorkieowl]

Had ours tested just as the new regs came in (a 2003 coachbuilt), was just as quick an MOT and no problems, think if you keep up to maintenance it wont be any more of a problem, same price as last year, £45.

 

[sparkydave]

all this technology does in my opinion is teach people that they don't need to learn common sense, a lot of things like ABS are fantastic in themselves, as a piece of technology, BUT, in your average vehicle, it shouldn't be necessary, people just manage by learning less,

automatic wipers- if you can't work out when to put your wipers on, should you be allowed out of your house unaccompanied?

automatic lights- see above, and how long will it be before we see someone who doesn't know how to switch their lights on, because they've never needed to do it?

technology is largely being introduced as a sales gimmick, and designed to allow idiots to survive, how long before the vehicle fails it's test because the automatic wipers don't work when the tester chucks some water at the windscreen??

 

[lebesset]

I lived in France for some time and the test is done every 2 years by the government. The test centres do not do repairs so if you fail then you have to either fix it yourself or take it somewhere else then return for a retest. The French inspector I went to was very helpful and once pointed out that my steering joint on one wheel was wearing and to have it replaced but didn't fail my car.

The system used here in the UK is open to abuse by garages who fail cars just so they can make money. It is better to have your MOT done at a council facility if possible.

A point was made about airbags but if you disable the passenger airbag for safety reasons, you might have a backwards facing baby seat fitted, then would this mean a fail because the airbag isn't working?

there are more than 5,000 testing stations in france , and every one is privately owned
MOT testing stations used to have to be separate from workshops in the uk ; are you saying this has changed ? if the station belongs to a workshop you are not under any obligation to have them carry out repairs required
it will continue to be legal to disable front airbags to enable the fitment of rear facing baby seats

 

[RoaminRog]

Mot

Just had my motorhome mot'd by a garage in Snetterton, just off the A11, and he is only charging £30 for a Class 4 mot. It is run as a family concern by Iain and Lisa Harkness. They trade as H.A.S. and can be contacted on 01 953 887442.
I can assure you that I have no vested interest in this company but I am always happy when able to impart good news. Did I mention the free coffee while you wait?

 

[jogguk]

don't forget,if it's not there it can't be tested.take off the towhitch and the socket/s and tape up the wires

Already done:wave: Easy with american towbar receivers, just pull the hitch out of the 2" socket:lol-053:

John

 

[Iain69]

I really hate all of the safety systems that are being constantly imposed - I know that probably makes me wierd, but I think they make people far too over confident.

I'm much more of the school of thought that driving around with a big spike on the steering wheel will make you drive quite safely.

As a biker I have to say that modern cars are pretty much idiot proof, so the fact that we still have so many crashes would seem to suggest that people's skill levels are falling to fairly dire levels. Why not make drivers better rather than allow poorer driving to be supplemented by more gadgets?

Right - i'm off back under my rock again.......

Totaly agree with you, I think they should have cars without any safety devices for learners just a basic car like we had in the 70s/early 80s, How can someone trully learn to drive if you have abs, esp,tc and all the other safety devices to aid you, with all that you should never crash , but it leaves a driver with no experiance for if or when they drive something without all the toys :scared:

 

[Iain69]

I do think the mot is going to far these days, it was started to ensure a car was safe for the road but now its way beyond that .

 

[Teutone]

I am a little bit astonished reading some comments in this thread.

"take it off and it can't be tested and fail you"

Don't you want to have a WORKING and SAFE towbar on your vehicle? With all the lights working as they should? If that's the case anyway, why take it off?

And if it's NOT the case, get it rapaired!!!! I have seen many trailers indicating the opposite side of the tow car or no brake lights.Or all the lights on. Or only very dim lights.

And you are still thinking this shouldn't be tested in an MOT???

If your airbag light is on and you take the bulb out, fair enoug. That's only about your own safety.

But whatever can cause any harm to OTHERS should be tested and if it doesn't work, get it fixed! Or delete it PROPERLY.

It is debatable if driver aids are good or bad. And as long as noboby comes up with a official statistic that accidents and death have increased since the introduction of ABS, Airbags, ESP, I am convinced they improve general safety on the roads.

Sure there is always an occasion where the human can outsmart the electronic. But that's only on a very few circumstances (ABS and driving slow on snow comes to my mind)

Don't blame the car manufacturers offering these aids, blame the regulators for not training drivers to a higher standard!
Every driver these days should attend compulsory training with his OWN vehicle to learn how to properly brake and do a bit of skidpan training to be prepared if he /she ever gets into trouble.

I bet a lot of motorway accidents wouldn't happen if people would realise how HARD they can really brake!

And if you think an UK MOT is harsh, just go to Germany. I can assure you that 30% UK roadlegal vehiicles wouldn't even drive off the german MOT station after testing. They would deregister them on the spot.

 

[Teutone]

you are always good at dishing out but not very good at the receiving end.....

And yes, a modern ABS WILL compensate for poor driving skill. Why has it been developed if there wasn't a need? Braking on sliperry surface is rather difficult in a straight line already. Add a bend to it and you will benefit from a modern ABS without a doubt.
Like I said already, the computer can brake the individually, the driver can't. Same for traction control.
You can only push the throttle, the computer will see each driven wheel seperately and will apply power as suitable.

Take a modern 4x4 with hill decent. You would never be able to drive like this if you not a pro.

And there are plenty of modern road cars with 4 channel ABS nowadays, not only race cars.

All the REALLY fast motorbike racers I know use the rear brake. That what makes them really fast. They just know when and how much to apply. There mere mortals like us just can manage it with the rear wheel just touching the ground under braking.

oh and sorry for the 3 weeks delay. I do work sometimes and don't read all of the forum. It's not that important to me.

 

[jonkil]

The new stringent MOT rules have been implemented here in Southern Ireland for years.
Our workshop has invested quite a bit in diagnosis equipment to repair the modern electronic systems, ABS, SRS etc.
Its amazing how many systems have had bulbs removed, and more modern dashes destroyed by people removing the SM LED;s to "put the light out" !
SRS system repairs can be expensive in some cases, not uncommon to have repairs costing many hundreds of pounds..... so all in all it will in some cases cost owners more to have those systems repaired to have a MOT pass.

As for the ABS debate, as part of our business we also prepare quite sophisticated modern rally cars. ABS is not fitted in many cases but the caliber of driver using those cars is not the same as the average road user. The really modern racing systems are really good and those will begin to filter down to road cars in the future, all 4 channel and in the case of 4 wheel drive cars they are 6 channel (both driveshafts have sensors and limit/allow both wheel lock up)....
There is no doubt whatsoever that ABS do make road cars safer for the average driver.