Brake light substitution

If I present my car for the MOT with a brake light out, but the car is
substituting a sidelight or foglight as a replacement, will it pass? Is
this on the checklist (like the ABS warning bulb being removed), and if so,
are the likely to notice?

I am not trying to get out of the 60p for the bulb (I carry a box with one
of each bulb in the boot), just wondering if the testing methods have been
updated for the latest safety mechanisms (I noticed in the manual that the
car will use an alternate if the brake light bulb has gone). I personally
would fail a car if it had a blown brake bulb if I were a tester (the spirit
of the law and the letter of the law and all that).

Bob

 

no it will fail.

all lights must perform the function they are 'indicated' to do.


mike

 

Not sure that's quite true but if the (twin) fogs were wired up instead
of the brake lamps then I doubt a tester would notice. If only one
side was then they probably would.

 

no sorry
the testing spec clearly says all brake/stop lights must show red. and be a
pair spaced at equal side points on the rear facing on vehicle else its a
fail.
any centre bars affixed to the rear windscreen etc etc are not part of the
test and are not to be included in the above spec.

alternative systems which switch to other lights if there is a problem are
only 'in emergency' and the correct system must be fixed ASAP.
someone find the law i've not got time to trawl thru the web

mike

 

Yep my mate's Vectra C failed the MOT due to the brake light not
working properly, even though it had failed safe to whatveer other
light it uses. Being a reasonable garage they charged him a quid for
the bulb & passed it.

 

So if I switched the brake and fog lights around that would be ok?
What about the two-bulb side lights? If one of the (four) bulbs is
out, is that a fail?

Fog lights don't have to be an illuminated pair even if two are fitted.
Reversing lights don't have to work either so your comment "every light
must work as intended" isn't quite right.

 

So as long as it is symmetrical nobody will notice...

What if you take out the matching working bulb, and the on board computer
grasses you up with it's "check brake light" message?

Bob

 

yes , a fail, are you that thick?
you must have lights like everyone else on the road, i think you know that!

you must have side lights all around, red rear white fwd.
you must have twin dip/mainbeam fwd facing and aligned correctly
you must have reversing light
you must have atleast one pair of orange turn indicators fwd/rear facing on
each side
any additional indicator repeaters on side panels or wing mirrors where
fitted must work.
you must have a pair of rear facing red brake lights or a pair of dual
intensity red stop/brake lights

any indicator or stop or tail sidelight must NOT show white light.

every light must work as intended was not my comment!
good idea though!

reversing lights DO have to work on cars where they were fitted as standard
by the manu.

i am not even going to go near fog lights or as todays idiots call them
'driving lights'
urm... perhaps they should be called 'idiot lights' instead.

mike

 

Is there a big book somewhere that tells you which light is which for each
model? A dodgy geezer may well remove the working bulb from a pair to give
symmetry.

I had a car that passed its MOT 3 times with a reversing light that only
worked occasionally.

Already done:
Fog Lamps, n.:
Excessively (often obnoxiously) bright lamps mounted on the fronts
of automobiles; used on dry, clear nights to indicate that the
driver's brain is in a fog. See also "Idiot Lights".
- Attributed to Ambrose Bierce, but since he died in 1914, I doubt it.

Bob

 

The reversing lights on my Carlton have never worked since I've had it
and it's gone through 3 MoTs that way.

You wrote "all lights must perform the function they are 'indicated' to
do." and that isn't true. A rear nearside fog light can be out, both
front fogs can be out, the middle brake light can be out and it would
seem that reversing lights can also be out and the car would pass an
MoT.

My car has twin bulb rear side lights but I'm sure if I took a bulb out
each side that it would still pass.