Airbag warning lights, MOT and 24-hour emergencies

[GregorJP]

So picked up Cesil today from his storage home. He looks minter than I remembered, and wow, have forgotten how direct and light he feels. I am taking him to DN10 at the Ring on Tuesday and am very excited. However, I need to get him MOT'd tomorrow and...

The airbag warning light is on. I have no idea how this has happened but I suspect it's something to do with the battery charger and him just having sat for 6 months doing nothing.

I've an MOT booked for 8.20am tomorrow and I understand that he will fail with the light showing. Do people think that an everyday (but decent) garage will be able to clear the fault code? I've a busy day at work tomorrow and don't want to find myself hunting around. Anyone know somewhere that should be able to fix this? I live in Harpenden, Herts.

Thanks all.

[adem.csl]

They can put the airbag light as an advisory if only the light is on
They fail airbags if the airbags show signs of damage or have ignited!
Most mot stations should have the diag to reset the light for ya!!


Im a tester and i know airbag light can be advised!!!

[GregorJP]

Adem, you've made a stressed man feel less stressed. Thanks mate. I'll report back.

[CraigMillwardCroft]

Adem just took my car for a run with the EML light on went to drive off and car is very slow, going to take me a long tie to get to you on the 26th June mate :bigcry:

[adem.csl]

10423
There ya go can be advised.


Craig take your earth terminal off for 20mins then reconnect it see if the light goes out otherwise no prob i will be waiting for ya!!

[shimmy]

Adem just took my car for a run with the EML light on went to drive off and car is very slow, going to take me a long tie to get to you on the 26th June mate :bigcry:

Throttle sensor maybe

[adem.csl]

Intake air temp sensor my guesss

[CraigMillwardCroft]

Throttle sensor maybe

The car has not moved since SPA in July last year, only been started about three times :bigcry:

[shimmy]

The car has not moved since SPA in July last year, only been started about three times :bigcry:

they go at the funniest of times.

[adem.csl]

Craig do you want me to bring the laptop Friday evening see if i can clear the light and if it needs anything i can order it for Saturday??!!

[shane@mbtech]

10423
There ya go can be advised.


Craig take your earth terminal off for 20mins then reconnect it see if the light goes out otherwise no prob i will be waiting for ya!!

You sure that's if the srs light does not come on Adem?

Light on is fail.

No light at all, ie bulb taken out is just an advise.


"The relevant section of the MOT Testing Manual as shown on the VOSA website is here. As you can see there are two reasons for failure (RFRs) relevant to airbags:

airbag obviously missing or defective
SRS malfunction indicator lamp indicating a malfunction
Some MOT testers are saying that if an airbag lamp is inoperable (never lights up at all, even when ignition first turned on) then this is an RFR, but in “Special Notice 01-2013” issued by VOSA to MOT test centres in March 2013 this was specifically excluded and removed from the manual:

“Section 5.4, RFR 2 – SRS warning lamp inoperative has been deleted.”
This was also stated in an email from VOSA before the changes came in, as reported on the Pistonheads forum:

“In respect of the SRS (Supplementary Restraint System) warning lamp; a vehicle will fail if this lamp indicates an SRS system malfunction. However, there will be no MOT requirement for the lamp to actually work once these changes become 'live'.”
So whilst driving a car with possibly faulty airbags is far from ideal, an inoperative airbag light should NOT fail the MOT (refer your MOT garage to VOSA if they think otherwise). This will at least keep your car legal while you investigate and repair the light, and any faults it might indicate."

[GregorJP]

I can clear this one up for you. The MOT tester failed the car. When I pointed out that it should be an advisory, they disagreed and cited the passage that Lawsy points to. We had a bit of back and forth, but I quickly realised that I was on a hiding to nothing.

I then suggested that I might take the car away and the airbag light might miraculously never light up at all. They winked and said that if that happened, who were they to question it.

However, I didn't have time for any of that and I don't like to cut corners on my Cesil. So they interrogated the airbag control unit and found that it was defective - I had to get a new one. Given that I go to the Ring this morning and need my MOT, I was in no position to argue. So...£400 later, here I am with an MOT.

One thing is clear - from the amount of shit about airbag warning lights and MOTs on the Internet, you're unlucky if yours comes on. There is nothing worse than spending dead money. Just check my account at Secrets.