Author Topic: MOT Pass/Fail incorrectly showing on DVSA site  (Read 4767 times)

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Offline Gewitty

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MOT Pass/Fail incorrectly showing on DVSA site
« on: February 09, 2018, 12:40:28 pm »
I had a need to check some MOT details for my vehicle this morning and went to the DVSA web site to find the records. This in itself is pretty straightforward, but what I found puzzled me somewhat.

Last year, I had a problem with the TPMS system on the car after replacing a blow-out. The details of this were discussed on the forum at some length in this thread: http://www.mazda6forums.co.uk/index.php?topic=2778.0

In a nutshell; replacing a tyre with one which is not identical in both make and spec to the one opposite on the same axle causes the TPMS to persistently trigger false low pressure alarms. This cannot be rectified by resetting the system, as the fault reappears at some random time within a few hours, or sometimes days. Apart from suggesting that I throw away the new £200 tyre and replace it with one identical to the original, Mazda were of no help whatsoever and refuse to acknowledge that their TPMS system is not fit for purpose.

What baffled me about the DVSA report however, is the fact that when the car had its last MOT check, it was returned by the garage as having passed with no problems. The DVSA system says different. This shows that on the day of the test, two certificates were issued, one a Fail and one a Pass. The Fail section cites the reason as : Tyre pressure monitoring system warning lamp indicates a fault (4.1.D.4)

I had informed the garage about this problem when I dropped the car off and they seemed quite relaxed about it as far as the test was concerned. They even said that they would try and find a way of resetting the system, so that it accepted the new tyre as its baseline for monitoring. As it happened, they were unsuccessful in doing this and the alarm still goes off at random times, even following resets.

The questions which remain about the MOT report are: Why does it show Pass and Fail certificate numbers, when I was only told that it had passed; and does the incorrect operation of the TPMS system constitute a reason for failing an MOT?

Offline Willpower

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Re: MOT Pass/Fail incorrectly showing on DVSA site
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2018, 02:09:03 pm »
I can only answer part of your questions.

Re the Pass and Fail listings.    This happens to every vehicle that is submitted for an MOT.   It is very likely that the garage will do an initial inspection of the vehicle and might find some items that fail the MOT criteria, but are minor problems that they will fix. Things like blown bulbs, empty washer fluid, smeary wipers etc. All failures but easily fixed. as part of their commitment to you to put the car through an MOT.

Before they can rectify these problems, the test will be marked as a failure (which it is).  Once they have fixed the problems then they will subsequently sign off the MOT as a pass and should  appropriately inform you of what they did to permit the car to pass. However they have to produce a failure certificate as part of the cars MOT history.

So yes it appears that it was a failure due to the TPMS issue. As the garage subsequently issued a Pass, that would indicate that they did something to rectify the problem (although it seems it was not adequate enough) and then issued the Pass certificate.   

Just leading on to the TPMS issue. Although I cannot answer categorically, it is normal to accept and to expect, that if the car is manufactured with a safety system as standard, such as the TPMS system, then if that system is compromised in any way, then it constitutes a MOT failure.

An example that I can quote is the automatic headlamp levelling system and headlamp washer system on my car that has Xenon headlamps. If either of those systems are non functional on an MOT, then it will fail.   
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