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Not being a scaremonger but...............

Dave2000

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spain
Today I took a customers car for it's ITV (MOT). Car was passed ok and whilst waiting for the machine to print out the relevant documents I was chatting to one of the inspectors. It seems that from June of this year vehicles built/fitted with ABS with be expected to activate the brakes until the ABS intervenes and releases the brakes and re-applies them. Of note, the MOT station in my area of Spain is run by and to the German TUV standards. It seems this 'may' in the future be extended to France AND the UK.

Will this happen in the UK I do not know but I do know that those who have removed/disabled their systems should keep their ear to the ground.

Add to this in September, that if a vehicle here presented with any ONE bulb out (including the number plate) will be an automatic fail, as opposed to the present system of warning.

regards

Dave
 
I did a token amount of research before i threw the abs over my shoulder. As ever it appeared to be a gray area. What kept repeating itself was ; if its not there, we cant test it. So i removed all obvious traces of the abs.

Ive only had two seats in my cruiser for years, if its not there..... etc.

Just my own justification.
 
Ive only had two seats in my cruiser for years, if its not there..... etc.

Just my own justification.
Me too, it's not been a problem with MOT so far. :think:
 
Thanks for the heads up Dave. That could make life interesting.

I agree with if its not there they cant test for it. So removing all traces is most likely the key. On older things like the 80 series we should be ok since some of the early models didnt have ABS. Not sure how it would be with something newer though.

ABS on my Golf TDi was malfunctioning when i bought it recently. Throwing up intermittent signal errors at the ECU on the ABS pump. I thought it might be a dry joint on the board in the ECU. I disabled it thru the software on the car to stop the annoying lights and beeps until i figured out what to do. (Basically told the main computer the car did not have ABS so it would not check for it). When I found out how cheap parts were from the breakers and in plentiful supply I picked up a very clean and working ABS pump/ ECU from a breakers for reasonable sum of £16 delivered and fitted it in an easy morning including pressure bleeding and changing all the brake fluid.

Pity parts for the cruiser aren't quite as cheap or in plentiful supply.
 
The last MOT of my cruiser was 'interesting'. When I mentioned that it's a full time 4wd, the inspector skipped the brake test.
The people at my local MOT station are always enthousiastic when I show up in the cruisers. 'great truck!', 'What a beast of an engine !' etc. are the common remarks and then as a side remark : 'oh yes, there is a loose bolt on the steering link, please fix it before the next check will you?'
 
'If it is not there we cannot test it', try removing all traces of the air bag on the later models and see if you get the same result. When testing we were told, 'if it is fitted it must work' was the general rule. Test stations know if your model has it or not, if this new EU rule hits UK shores and if the tester is on the ball, your vehicle will surely fail.

I have other 'stuff' but this site is becoming so 'buggy' and difficult to use from Spain I am losing my patience.

regards

Dave
 
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Mine takes it down the road with a brake force tester in the passenger footwell. After a screech of tyres the truck returns and passes. It's a1984 HDJ81 import and has no ABS from factory.
 
Dave, dont take it out on us cos the spaniards wont let you take out your rear seats....:icon-wink:

The only thing that stopped be removing my air bags was the different fitment of the cruise control on the non air bag wheel.
 
If fitted or was fitted dave?
Btw, not condoning anything i have done, you make your choices and take your chances.

These motors are now 20 years plus and getting fewer in number. Not really top of most peoples shopping list as a dd these days.
 
The "if it's not fitted they can't test it" only works so far. My dirt bike came with a full light set but I completely removed the indicators and so they are not part of the test. All cars after a certain date require CAT's and will fail the test without one. Where that would leave a LC80 that had the ABS removed, if this legislation is adopted over here, who knows but in these days of electronic 'checkuppery' available to police and test stations etc it would be quite easy for them to get the original spec of the vehicle assuming they had the inclination to take it that far or were bound to by law. JMO
 
Yes. I'm also sure the insurers would decline insurance if you fulfilled your obligations to notify them of alterations. As in removing one of the safety features of the braking system :icon-biggrin:. And if you did not tell them you would be uninsured. Fine until you need them to pay out. The bigger the claim the more they will check the car out.
 
I had a similar situation with my Nissan 350z with the whole "if it's fitted it must work". They were going to fail it on my headlight washers not working which I purposely pulled the fuse on because I don't like it (it messes up the bonnet with soapy residue). And so eventually I explained myself and got away with it but this was about 2/3 years ago and they've got even harsher now (or should I say Stupid).

Anyway, here in the states there are no Vehicle checks in Florida. You should see some of the things on the road....
 
Just to add to the 'if not fitted it cannot be tested' theory, try removing the seat belts for example, or the 'high level' brake light, or the......the.......

regards

Dave
 
ABS ? Air Bags? it will never catch on.
I had the same comment on the 4x4 brake testing during my MOT. the tester just drove 20 meters up the road and applied the brakes. it stopped so he was happy.
 
ABS ? Air Bags? it will never catch on.
I had the same comment on the 4x4 brake testing during my MOT. the tester just drove 20 meters up the road and applied the brakes. it stopped so he was happy.

Why are the testers not using the brake rollers, it is BS that a 4x4 cannot go on them.

regards

Dave
 
I agree dave. My mot tester wont use the rollers neither, i think they just like getting out of the garage and having a drive.
 
Could it be down to towing a permanent 4x4 being only allowed on the back of a lorry or with all 4 wheels turning? I can't see it being a problem for the short time they do it but they must be following some sort of guidelines or best practice or something just in case they break something or someone says 'ahh yes they did two wheels at a time on the brake test and now my transfer box has blown up' or such like.

As a thought, whenever a new part is brought into the MOT, it only applies to vehicles produced from a certain date. For example, a Model T Ford may not be tested for indicators or windscreen washers. There is a whole timeline of what tests have to be done to what age vehicle in my test station. The early tests had very little on them.

Anyway, my point is that anything new will be unlikely to affect vehicles already on the road unless the test is retrospective. And that remains to be seen.
 
If a truck has a lsd in the rear then they dont put it on the rollers as turning one wheel will damage the lsd. That's what the tester told me last on year's mot. :thumbup:
 
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