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New MOT tester for Gus.
Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 12:12 pm
by codge
Took Gus for his usual health check a few days back. Not his usual best mate MOT tester 'cos he's gone garaging in pastures new.....
Anyway the new place passed him but gave him some advisories:-
Bushes cracking but no play.....OK fair enough, the old guy has noted that.
THEN:.....Rear seat back.....only one catch.
This was going to be a 'fail' until I got out the handbook which shows one side of the seat only and says '...move the catch'..... (note singular 'catch').
So it became an advisory. First note for this in 20 years of tests. I do agree though that the seat back is a bit floppy on the side with just a peg, not a catch. I'm sure I can do a Heath Robinson fix by the next MOT.
Re: New MOT tester for Gus.
Posted: Fri Nov 22, 2013 1:16 pm
by TOOL
He's just covering his arse, the same way my MOT place states "plastic undertrays fitted" on my MOTs when I take my Beemer in. These are as fitted by BMW, but cos he can't see past them to check for rot etc. he feels compelled to record it.
Re: New MOT tester for Gus.
Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 4:21 pm
by chc
They may well be 'just covering their backsides' but where in the directive for the MOT does it state that rear seats must have 2 catches and undertrays should be removed to facilitate inspection of the underside of a vehicle ? Thin end of the wedge for the next generation of "I'm in Charge" so do as I say ...... ?
Re: New MOT tester for Gus.
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 4:35 pm
by codge
codge wrote:Took Gus for his usual health check a few days back. Not his usual best mate MOT tester 'cos he's gone garaging in pastures new.....
Anyway the new place passed him but gave him some advisories:-
Bushes cracking but no play.....OK fair enough, the old guy has noted that.
THEN:.....Rear seat back.....only one catch.
This was going to be a 'fail' until I got out the handbook which shows one side of the seat only and says '...move the catch'..... (note singular 'catch').
So it became an advisory. First note for this in 20 years of tests. I do agree though that the seat back is a bit floppy on the side with just a peg, not a catch. I'm sure I can do a Heath Robinson fix by the next MOT.
Remember this from last November.
Easy peasy fix for the seat back.
Get a spare latch plate from a scrapper - (the nearside one, with the lever). It just flips to the offside and the seat back is then latched firmly both sides. Agreed the lever is upside down and is best operated from inside the car......and you need an adult arm spread to trip both catches but I'm not long in the arms and I can do it easy.
A worthwhile safety improvement all round.
Re: New MOT tester for Gus.
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 5:09 pm
by chc
I agree with the easy fix Prof but regardless of this it wasn't a requirement from the manufacturer and in fairness these cars have passed thousands upon thousands of mots collectively without the necessity of a second catch/lever. So how can an mot examiner change the design criteria and safety aspect of a vehicle just on a personal preference? Sorry but this is over the top and I for one would complain if this were to happen to me as this aspect is not required to be examined under an mot 
Re: New MOT tester for Gus.
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 9:03 pm
by codge
Only an advisory Cliff and although I'm a real dinosaur about safety improvements I do think this is such an easy fix it's well worthwhile.
Not least because the supermarket big shop is often stacked in the back. I'd hate to catch half a dozen bottles of vino at the back of the neck rather than down it.
Re: New MOT tester for Gus.
Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2014 10:59 pm
by ian65
codge wrote:codge wrote:Took Gus for his usual health check a few days back. Not his usual best mate MOT tester 'cos he's gone garaging in pastures new.....
Anyway the new place passed him but gave him some advisories:-
Bushes cracking but no play.....OK fair enough, the old guy has noted that.
THEN:.....Rear seat back.....only one catch.
This was going to be a 'fail' until I got out the handbook which shows one side of the seat only and says '...move the catch'..... (note singular 'catch').
So it became an advisory. First note for this in 20 years of tests. I do agree though that the seat back is a bit floppy on the side with just a peg, not a catch. I'm sure I can do a Heath Robinson fix by the next MOT.
Remember this from last November.
Easy peasy fix for the seat back.
Get a spare latch plate from a scrapper - (the nearside one, with the lever). It just flips to the offside and the seat back is then latched firmly both sides. Agreed the lever is upside down and is best operated from inside the car......and you need an adult arm spread to trip both catches but I'm not long in the arms and I can do it easy.
A worthwhile safety improvement all round.
I had a look at one of these catches today Dave.....
the offside housing for the seat peg is actually a blank catch housing without the gubbings in it but it is handed the opposite way.
If you get a spare working catch, prise the locking washer off the plastic spindle, you can then use the lever, spring and washer in the blank housing..... you just need to bend the little U- end on the spring through 180 degrees and then put it all together and hey presto, you have a perfect working catch, the correct way up, just a mirror image of the existing catch on the other side.
You still need arms like an orangutan though
Re: New MOT tester for Gus.
Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2014 1:06 pm
by codge
Yeh, I wonderered about that but erred on the side of not breaking the spare catch.
Either way it's still a simples improvement.