Frayed seat belt MOT fail

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GDB87 said:

Hi all, my car failed it's MOT today (recorded as a dangerous defect so I can't drive it anywhere) due a fraying of the drivers seat belt. I've attached a  photo for reference. It is obviously frayed, but it has been like this for a few years and has passed previous MOTs without even an advisory.

I've been quoted £600 for a repair. Anyone know if this is a definite fail or I have had an over zealous tester? I'm confused as it passed previous MOTs in a similar condition, so would be very grateful for any other opinions. Perhaps the guidelines have changed. Thanks!

The guidelines are that a damaged seatbelt is a major fail, whilst a seatbelt that is seriously weakened is a dangerous.

IMHO, that is damaged, but not seriously weakened so it should have been just a major.

They can't stop you driving away even with a dangerous fail, but should you encounter one of those almost mythical "Police" (when did you last see one?) and they stop you to check your car over you are driving a car that is unroadworthy, plus your insurer might try and wheedle out of their contractual responsibilities in the event of an accident, so you might have to go to the Ombudsman to force them to pay out (assuming the accident wasn't somehow caused by a frayed seatbelt, but that is rather unlikely)

Nothing has actually changed since you drove the car into the garage, it was just as dangerous before the test.

Car_54

facade said:

GDB87 said:

Hi all, my car failed it's MOT today (recorded as a dangerous defect so I can't drive it anywhere) due a fraying of the drivers seat belt. I've attached a  photo for reference. It is obviously frayed, but it has been like this for a few years and has passed previous MOTs without even an advisory.

I've been quoted £600 for a repair. Anyone know if this is a definite fail or I have had an over zealous tester? I'm confused as it passed previous MOTs in a similar condition, so would be very grateful for any other opinions. Perhaps the guidelines have changed. Thanks!

The guidelines are that a damaged seatbelt is a major fail, whilst a seatbelt that is seriously weakened is a dangerous.

IMHO, that is damaged, but not seriously weakened so it should have been just a major.

The manual actually says "significantly" rather than "seriously".

Whichever, it's still a matter of judgement. I'd call that significant.

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Car_54 said:

facade said:

GDB87 said:

Hi all, my car failed it's MOT today (recorded as a dangerous defect so I can't drive it anywhere) due a fraying of the drivers seat belt. I've attached a  photo for reference. It is obviously frayed, but it has been like this for a few years and has passed previous MOTs without even an advisory.

I've been quoted £600 for a repair. Anyone know if this is a definite fail or I have had an over zealous tester? I'm confused as it passed previous MOTs in a similar condition, so would be very grateful for any other opinions. Perhaps the guidelines have changed. Thanks!

The guidelines are that a damaged seatbelt is a major fail, whilst a seatbelt that is seriously weakened is a dangerous.

IMHO, that is damaged, but not seriously weakened so it should have been just a major.

The manual actually says "significantly" rather than "seriously".

Whichever, it's still a matter of judgement. I'd call that significant.

So it does, "significant" rather than "seriously" my mistake. It is less than 10% of the width, and virtually all the longitudinal fibres are intact, so I wouldn't have failed it dangerous, but I didn't do the test so my opinion is immaterial.

A major is still a fail, so it doesn't actually matter, except some garages use "dangerous" to frighten people into having the work done by them (at expensive rates rather than shopping around) as "You can't drive a dangerous vehicle away from here" when actually you can't legally drive an unroadworthy one full stop (but there is nothing to stop you taking the risk, and in this case it doesn't pose a danger to other road users or is likely to directly cause an accident).

Alanp

I suppose you’ve got to think if you were involved in a crash would the seat belt hold?, it’s worth shopping around for other quotes, but, as pointed out, it may have to be fitted by a competent garage, and with todays modern cars, may need hooking up to a computer to re set the pre tensioner or something, everything else seems to nowadays.

Mildly_Miffed

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles/7-other-equipment#section-7-1-2

7.1.2.b) A seat belt:

(i) or flexible stalk damaged - Major

(ii) webbing or flexible stalk significantly stretched or weakened - Dangerous

There's no doubt it's damaged, so it definitely should fail.
The only question is whether it's "significantly weakened", so dangerous. The tester thinks so. But is that distinction anything but academic?

Either way, basic common sense says you really shouldn't be using that seat for any occupant until it's repaired, because that is one knackered belt. Since it's the driver's seat...

castle96

I once had a fail as they couldnt SEE the belt (the seat was folded down!!)

uknick

What make car is it?  At a main BMW main dealer you could be looking at £400 for labour, 2 hours, to fit and £200 for the new belt.

Not sure I'd want a seat belt from a breaker's yard unless I'd seen it first and also the car to see if it had been involved in a crash where the seat belts were used. 

chris_n

I used to make these things so have a good idea of what goes on with them. When / if you get early signs of fraying get a lighter and singe the loose fibres gently. That should stop further fraying and not cause problems with MOT (wouldn't fix OP's though, that is dangerous).
A number of comments about using second hand parts, if you are doing this please make sure the parts are absolutely identical (part numbers). If they just look the same is not enough, seatbelts are part of a safety system and are designed to work with other parts. For instance some have pretensioners some don't,  if you fit a retractor (the actual seatbelt assembly) that isn't designed for use with a pretensioner buckle (maybe from the same model but different spec / year) and you have a crash you will end up with broken ribs as a minimum possibly a broken sternum. Not saying don't do it, just be careful. 

EnPointe

uknick said:

What make car is it?  At a main BMW main dealer you could be looking at £400 for labour, 2 hours, to fit and £200 for the new belt.

Not sure I'd want a seat belt from a breaker's yard unless I'd seen it first and also the car to see if it had been involved in a crash where the seat belts were used. 

exactly  
also  given that modern cars may have pyrotechnic elements in the seatbelt reels - the pretensioners - meaning that various safety procedures  need to be done before working on them 

theoretica

Also - of course - see if you can work out what started the fraying in the first place.  Rubbing on something?  Getting caught in the door?  So you can try to stop it happening to the replacement.