One missing wheel nut - MOT fail?

Car_54

Tarambor wrote: »

As for using a car if it has failed the MOT you can as long as it wasn't listed as dangerous

... and so long as it hasn't become dangerous, and no other dangerous fault has manifested itself, since the test.

Noree

Tarambor wrote: »

As for using a car if it has failed the MOT you can as long as it wasn't listed as dangerous however as your car doesn't meet the minimum legal standards for use on the roads you could leave yourself wide open to being charged/fined if stopped at a roadside check and the fault discovered.

So if I had a Major defect relating to my driver’s seatbelt or buckle then you’d say I can still drive the vehicle?

This is really poor advice and completely inaccurate.

Any vehicle that failed an MOT has now been highlighted as unroadworthy. All vehicles on the road should be roadworthy at all times nonetheless.

However if a vehicle fails an MOT, is it actually ‘safe’ to drive? This is completely subjective and down to the defect. Either a MAJOR or DANGEROUS defect may result in a vehicle being ‘not fit to be driven’. Again, as mentioned, it is subjective.

Going back to a seatbelt defect...

If the passenger front seatbelt failed the test on a Major or Dangerous defect then I shouldn’t put anyone in that seat when I drive the vehicle. I can still drive away with this dangerous defect and not be a threat to other motorists or pedestrians.

In theory, if there was an accident and someone was sat in the front passenger seat with a defective seatbelt which hasn’t yet been in for MOT, I may unknowingly (or not) put this passenger at a much higher risk of severity of injury. This could be investigated post-accident and punishment may prevail.

Same if my brake pads were found to be extremely low and there was an accident and I hit the back of someone.

There can also be insurance issues relating to any unroadworthy vehicle.

The MOT is merely a snapshot of that vehicle’s current state.

Would I drive a vehicle with a defective wheel bolt/nut? No.

And I wouldn’t wait and see the outcome of the MOT. This has been a fail for a long time!

vikingaero

I bought a wheel bolt for a BMW about a year ago. Cost £2.50. Shirley that's not an extortionate amount to quibble over?

hollie.weimeraner

Just drive it (you'll find the nut behind the wheel!)

Really can't understand some of the stupid questions posed on the forum at times.

Robisere

I was once standing at the garage entrance when a Trader drove a Ford Granada Ghia up the incline to our workshop for an MOT test (around 1994 I think.) The front offside wheel was wobbling dangerously and I stopped him at the top, on level ground, before he could drive in. All 5 wheel studs were loose! Two were literally just hanging on. I jacked it up carefully, removed the wheel and examined the studs, wheel and hub for damage. The two most insecure studs were 'necked', distorted and the alloy wheel itself was damaged. The trader was shouting and screaming about his mechanic, who had been working on the car and supposedly tightened the studs correctly. I asked him how, whilst driving here, he could possibly have missed vibrations from the wobbling wheel: "Well it only started a couple of miles back - I thought I could get here OK."

I pointed out that he could have killed himself and someone else unfortunate enough to be sharing his patch of road when the wheel came off. It cost him a new alloy wheel, 5 new studs and a new hub, he was extremely upset. Then I gave him the bad news that he would have to leave the car in our compound until he bought those parts, as the car was unfit for the road. I kindly offered to defray any storage charges (there is insurance for vehicles in the compound: we paid that!) Off he went. Days later we tested the car. And failed it for steering and suspension faults. What an unhappy trader he was...

AndyMc.....

Robisere wrote: »

I was once standing at the garage entrance when a Trader drove a Ford Granada Ghia up the incline to our workshop for an MOT test (around 1994 I think.) The front offside wheel was wobbling dangerously and I stopped him at the top, on level ground, before he could drive in. All 5 wheel studs were loose! Two were literally just hanging on. I jacked it up carefully, removed the wheel and examined the studs, wheel and hub for damage. The two most insecure studs were 'necked', distorted and the alloy wheel itself was damaged. The trader was shouting and screaming about his mechanic, who had been working on the car and supposedly tightened the studs correctly. I asked him how, whilst driving here, he could possibly have missed vibrations from the wobbling wheel: "Well it only started a couple of miles back - I thought I could get here OK."

I pointed out that he could have killed himself and someone else unfortunate enough to be sharing his patch of road when the wheel came off. It cost him a new alloy wheel, 5 new studs and a new hub, he was extremely upset. Then I gave him the bad news that he would have to leave the car in our compound until he bought those parts, as the car was unfit for the road. I kindly offered to defray any storage charges (there is insurance for vehicles in the compound: we paid that!) Off he went. Days later we tested the car. And failed it for steering and suspension faults. What an unhappy trader he was...

He could have driven it away at any time given you can't prohibit its use on the road.