MOT Major Defect, Really?!?

[SC0TTRS]

I'm always looking at what's available on the market, it's what I do.

I came across one with following MOT failure. It's a Abarth 500 with a turbo back Scorpion exhaust.


Repair immediately (major defects):

• Exhaust noise is clearly in excess of that emitted by a similar vehicle fitted with a standard silencer in average condition (8.1.1 (a))

Ok, sports exhaust without a doubt is louder than stock, we accept or expect that, but to fail the car classing it as 'Major Defect' is a bit excessive doing you think? Did the tester carryout a dB Level test to determine it exceed the legal limit?!!?..I doubt it.

It's not like the owner modified the existing, or made one up in the garden shed to make it louder, it's been replaced with a sports exhaust system!

Would think it's more Advisory noting it's just louder then stock than a OMG! Major Failings!!

What's the owner going to do, completely replace the exhaust system because it's louder than a standard?!?

To me sounds a bit bonkers!..

 

[bremen1874]

I bet his neighbours will be happy.

About time they started clamping down on people who take the **** with car modifications.

 

[Fireskull]

I bet his neighbours will be happy.

About time they started clamping down on people who take the **** with car modifications.

Bet you are fun at parties....

 

[Yaayuh!]

What's the owner going to do, completely replace the exhaust system because it's louder than a standard?!?

Swap the rear section for resonated version (assuming he went fro non-resonated) and take to another MOT centre, that's what i'd do.

 

[paradigm]

Used to swap my mates Civic Type R backbox out for each MOT, only takes 15-20 minutes or so.

I agree though that “major defect” is a bit silly.

 

[grudas]

I'd take it to a different place.. but I believe under new laws the major stops you from driving and would require work to be done at the garage but wtf are they gonna do! Rip apart a decent system and weld in some crappy resonator

 

[Rroff]

I bet his neighbours will be happy.

About time they started clamping down on people who take the **** with car modifications.

We've got a guy with a modified exhaust down the road from us - starts up to go to work at 5:45am on the dot - *bang* *bang* *putter* *putter* *putter* then a roar (plus some kind of dump valve sound) a bit later as he pulls away - we are just far enough away it isn't a major issue but I bet his immediate neighbours love him.

 

[Kenai]

https://www.mot-testing.service.gov...class3457/Section-8-Nuisance.html#section_8.1

Anything 'unreasonably' above what is expected of a similar vehicle will now fail on excess noise. As ever, helpfully the MOT testing manual has left it nice and vague and pretty much entirely at the discretion of the individual tester.

It's not hard to see how someone would describe this as unreasonably louder than standard;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFeniCUeNHs

Even more so if they think it's meant to sound like a Fiat 500

 

[Haggisman]

Bet you are fun at parties....

I'm with Bremen1874 on this one. A loud exhaust is all fun and games until you're getting woken up by one at all hours of the night. I've got no problem with people (safely) modding their cars if they want, but have some consideration for other people and don't do it if you need to leave for work at stupid o'clock every morning or plan on doing laps of the area at 3am

 

[Entai]

I'd take it to a different place.. but I believe under new laws the major stops you from driving and would require work to be done at the garage but wtf are they gonna do! Rip apart a decent system and weld in some crappy resonator

From my understanding previously your car either passed or failed.

Now under the new rules you get three classes, dangerous, major, and minor.


A "Dangerous" fault means the vehicle is not allowed to be driven away, it must be fixed before allowed onto the road again, basically your car is instantly legally unroadworthy so no tax or insurance is valid, as you have an unroadworthy vehicle.


A "Major" fault is also a fail but you can take it away to repair, as the car is not unroadworthy.

However not exactly sure how you can take it away as it is an MOT fail, and under new rules that will mean your car from that moment has no valid MOT even if you did have say three weeks left on your old MOT cert, the cert is instantly invalid the moment a fail is given.

I.E. You now cannot take your car into get a "pre-mot" check like you used to be able to a month before your cert ran out, find out what is wrong, drive away get it repaired and bring it back to get an actual MOT.


A minor fault is like the old advisories.

I might be wrong though.

 

[Resident]

I think everyone's missed the point where its got a TURBO-BACK exhaust therefore no CAT which is an instant fail anyway.

 

[lordrobs]

I'm with Bremen1874 on this one. A loud exhaust is all fun and games until you're getting woken up by one at all hours of the night. I've got no problem with people (safely) modding their cars if they want, but have some consideration for other people and don't do it if you need to leave for work at stupid o'clock every morning or plan on doing laps of the area at 3am

The funny thing is though that a 500 Abarth with the Record Monza exhaust (a factory fit option) is still significantly louder than a 'similar' bog standard 500. Does that make it an MOT failure though

That said we haven't heard the car in question, maybe it is stupidly loud and worthy of a fail.

 

[bremen1874]

If an exhaust is factory fit it will be type approved and will comply with legislation.

If it's dealer fit it might not.

 

[jellybeard999]

I think everyone's missed the point where its got a TURBO-BACK exhaust therefore no CAT which is an instant fail anyway.

It can still have a cat. AFAIK turbo back just means it includes the downpipe to cat section. The cat may have been replaced by a less restrictive cat, a piece of pipe, or the stock cat could have been reused. That is irrelevant anyway, as it would be down to the emissions testing, which is also covered in the MOT and it presumably passed if it's not mentioned.

 

[Doogles]

We've got a guy with a modified exhaust down the road from us - starts up to go to work at 5:45am on the dot - *bang* *bang* *putter* *putter* *putter* then a roar (plus some kind of dump valve sound) a bit later as he pulls away - we are just far enough away it isn't a major issue but I bet his immediate neighbours love him.

Neighbors should love him for actually getting his butt out of bed at 5:45am

 

[Nasher]

The rule has always been there afaik. But usually they don't care unless it's obnoxiously loud. I wouldn't even change it, I'd just go straight to another garage.

If your car has more than one cat it's also against the rules to remove one, even if it can still pass on just one. Though, they won't notice if the car's underside is covered in undertrays

 

[hyperseven]

The rule has always been there afaik. But usually they don't care unless it's obnoxiously loud. I wouldn't even change it, I'd just go straight to another garage.

If your car has more than one cat it's also against the rules to remove one, even if it can still pass on just one. Though, they won't notice if the car's underside is covered in undertrays

are MOTs computerised now so the next garage will know what it just failed on?

 

[Nasher]

are MOTs computerised now so the next garage will know what it just failed on?

Doesn't mean they will fail it as well. They probably won't even bother checking the history.

Some places are a lot more pedantic than others and noise is largely tester discretion.

 

[haaammit]

From my understanding previously your car either passed or failed.

Now under the new rules you get three classes, dangerous, major, and minor.


A "Dangerous" fault means the vehicle is not allowed to be driven away, it must be fixed before allowed onto the road again, basically your car is instantly legally unroadworthy so no tax or insurance is valid, as you have an unroadworthy vehicle.


A "Major" fault is also a fail but you can take it away to repair, as the car is not unroadworthy.

However not exactly sure how you can take it away as it is an MOT fail, and under new rules that will mean your car from that moment has no valid MOT even if you did have say three weeks left on your old MOT cert, the cert is instantly invalid the moment a fail is given.

I.E. You now cannot take your car into get a "pre-mot" check like you used to be able to a month before your cert ran out, find out what is wrong, drive away get it repaired and bring it back to get an actual MOT.


A minor fault is like the old advisories.

I might be wrong though.

If you get a Major or Minor fault, your old MOT test is still valid, just as it was before - it's only not valid if you get a Dangerous fault - the same as before. The names have essentially been updated/changed.

You do not need an MOT to have valid car insurance btw - I have had cars insured with not MOT before, and the insurance company have been fully aware there was no MOT

Edit to add that whilst your existing MOT will be valid, depending on what the Dangerous fail is, your vehicle may be in an unroadworthy condition, which is an offence.

 

[adolf hamster]

Probably the examiners way of telling this guy to wise up it's a fiat for gods sake

Its a very vague part of the mot, and really down to the tester, last time i took the bm in all i got was "you remove the backbox? She sounds nice" followed by a chat about how bm could make an engine that sounds as nice as that 6 pot then ruin it with an over effective silencer.

That said it wasnt excessively loud as to be taking the mick, and i lucked out getting a petrolhead for a tester.