MOT - Drivers seat

ii99

Hi

I have an old 3 door VW Polo that I use to drive to work as a second car, the MOT is due soon but the drivers seat does not fold forward when you lift the handle to let passengers in the back (I never have anyone in the back as it is only a second car for work). My question is would the car fail the MOT on this basis, I have had a look on directgov but couldnt see anything directly related to this.

Many thanks in advance.

[Deleted User]

As far as I know yes it would fail if it has no rear doors and the front seat doesn't fold forward.

Weirdlittleman

I don't think this is specifically a fail - for example car's dont fail MOTs were rear doors are faulty and dont open as long as there secure.

The tester though could probably argue that the integrity of the seat is damaged if the mechanisms do not fully function and fail on that.

jeannieblue

Weirdlittleman wrote: »

I don't think this is specifically a fail - for example car's dont fail MOTs were rear doors are faulty and dont open as long as there secure.

The tester though could probably argue that the integrity of the seat is damaged if the mechanisms do not fully function and fail on that.

You are wrong - if rear doors do not open, the car will fail, it is a safety issue.

OP it is a fail. Again, a safety issue. People need to be able to get out of the car quickly in an emergency.

If you can work out which part is faulty - take a trip to a breakers and try and replace it. Cheaper that way.

Gloomendoom

Just to muddy the waters...

There is nothing that I can see in the MoT tester's manual that mentions your specific problem as a reason for a fail. There is no reason, that I can see, why your rear seat passengers can't get out of the passenger side door.

Seats

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]8. Check the driver's and front passenger's seats for security.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]8. Reason for fail: The security of the driver's or front passenger's seat is significantly reduced.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]9. Check that the backrests of all seats (front and rear) can be secured in their normal upright position.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]9. Reason for fail: A seat back which cannot be secured in the upright position.[/FONT]

[Deleted User]

Well I read a post once on a specific car make model forum where someone had taken seats out of a 5 door to put into a 3 door. The 5 door seats didn't fold and push forward in the normal way for letting back seat passengers out. The car failed the next MOT because of it.

KeithP

Deleted_User wrote: »

Well I read a post once on a specific car make model forum where someone had taken seats out of a 5 door to put into a 3 door. The 5 door seats didn't fold and push forward in the normal way for letting back seat passengers out. The car failed the next MOT because of it.

Could be because the tester couldn't get in to inspect the rear seat belts.

Gloomendoom

Deleted_User wrote: »

Well I read a post once on a specific car make model forum where someone had taken seats out of a 5 door to put into a 3 door. The 5 door seats didn't fold and push forward in the normal way for letting back seat passengers out. The car failed the next MOT because of it.

I can understand it if you have to climb over the front seats to get in and out of the back, but if you can get out the passenger side, what's the problem? There is no law that says you even need a door on the driver's side.

skiddlydiddly

Gloomendoom wrote: »

I can understand it if you have to climb over the front seats to get in and out of the back, but if you can get out the passenger side, what's the problem? There is no law that says you even need a door on the driver's side.

I guess it could be argued that in an accident that if there was an injured passenger in the front, a rear passenger couldn't get out easily.

I don't know the answer myself, although I always though that both front seats had to be functioning in a 3 door.

jeannieblue

The MOT 'laws' are changing and getting stricter all the time. There are regular updates etc.

Basically - if 'its' there, it has to function correctly.

Give you a nutty example, you could have both brake lights working but if you had a bulb out on the middle high level brake light, its a fail. If you removed the high level unit completely - fine, no fail.....

They have toughened up big time on number plates this year - so watch it! And I don't mean just the mis spacing etc., but if the post code is missing - fail... and the police will nick you too.

Edit: most manuals will go out of date in months....

Gloomendoom

jeannieblue wrote: »

The MOT 'laws' are changing and getting stricter all the time. There are regular updates etc.

Basically - if 'its' there, it has to function correctly.

When I was a lad, my car's front passenger seat belt stopped rewinding properly. It was fine if somebody was actually wearing it, but when undone it took a long time to wind in. It failed it MoT on this point.

I removed the passenger seat completely, and got my MoT.

As you say, it probably wouldn't happen now.