? So if your Mum crashed her car tomorrow, and died, and afterwards the Police tell you a working airbag would have saved her life, would you still think it was nonsense/
Rubbish. If I'm a passenger in someone's car, and they crash, then I want to be protected. "at the discretion of the occupants" only works if they A: have half a brain, and B: have a good standard of driving. Neither are true for the average UK car owner.
Exactly. Seeing as ALL modern cars now come with airbags, then the non(functioning)-airbag car is no longer upto standard.
Eh ? How is he being penalised ? If he wants to leave the airbag not-working, then he's quite welcome to.
Good. The more people buying new cars, the more the second-hand market will bottom out. There'll be EVEN MORE 1+ year-old bargains around than there are now !
From a Safety point of view, a car with no airbag is less roadworthy than one with. Specification doesn't come into it - all new cars have airbags fitted. Don't they ?
Pretty much all of them, but I'd warrant that that's a high percentage of that is down to it being 'fashionable' and likely to promote sales (or at the very least, not lose them to a competitor) more than actual conscious concern on the part of the manufacturers.
The MoT is a test of a car's roadworthiness and legality. Seatbelts are tested because they are legally compulsory items, but airbags are not and do not affect a cars ability to interact with the road in the same way that other 'safety' features (such as ABS) do.
I see what you're getting at, and I'm not denying that it might be a good thing. But it's outside of what an MoT is supposed to be about.
Bit of an over-simplification, but something along those lines, yes.
The test as it currently stands is definetely concerned with the safety of 1st party also, but only in so much as it affects those areas of a car which are *legally* required to be in good working order and used whenever the car is driven (i.e. brakes, seatbelts).
Breaking beyond that current boundary would be a bit of a precedent, and ideas that start off in such a manner usually end up as being bad (not to mention expensive) things for the driving community at large.
Plus I'm not sure handing the testing of such delicate and intricate items over to the grease monkeys at a local independent testing station is such a good idea... :/
Your response is more in keeping with me having claimed that airbags are not worthwhile, which I didn't - for the record, I think they are, on balance, a Good Thing.
A counter example: let us say that a given car, like the majority on the roads, is used almost exclusively on a commute to and from work, and that for 99% of its mileage the only occupant is the driver. If, then, the passenger airbag stops working, is it reasonable that the owner should have to pay a significant sum to have it fixed, even though it is functionally useless? I don't think it is.
A secondary point is that airbags are _not_ compulsary. Although many companies fit airbags as standard, some don't and there is no legal requirement to have them. Given this, and the fact that a car with a non- functioning airbag is no more dangerous than a car without any airbag, it should surely be an equivalent matter of choice for the owner as to whether they keep them functioning.
The point that the car is not as safe as it could potentially be is not really valid as long as factors such as the coice of tyre :-P are not similarly covered.
The onus is on you to take responsibility for your own safety. In the same way that you can choose not to travel in a car which has no passenger airbag fitted, you can choose not to travel in a car which has a non- functioning passenger airbag.
An airbag does not render a dangerous driver safe. It is up to you not to place yourself in the care of a dangerous driver.
Airbags (particularyl passenger side) _are_ still optional items, and as such a car without airbags is deemed to meet the legal minimum of safety. Since a car with a non-functioning airbag is as safe as a car without airbags, then surely it too must meet the same minimum standard.
Not under the new MOT ruling, he won't be, which I what we were talking about.
Nah, it means that the overall cost of new cars will be spread over a lifetime of 3-4 years instead of 10-15, and thus it will cost _everyone_ more money. Also, the initial deprieciation would reduce the number of people buying new cars and put more pressure on the nearly-new market. Finally, it would surely increase the number of poverty-spec models bought as new.
Ok, I had this problem (620si, 97P). Turned out to be a bad connection in the 'rotory coupler' that sits behind the steering wheel. First job for you to do is check the error code to diagnose the fault:- pull off the plastic panel at the left of the passenger footwell by the floor, you will find a BLUE connector. With ignition off, short this connector with a paper clip. Turn on ignition, and note the number of flashes on the dashboard SRS light - this is the stored fault code. Post the code here, and I will tell you what it means. The most common problem is a bad connection somewhere, but when fixed you have to reset the fault memory. The best source of information is on
Hmm, I'm sure the manufacturers have to fit them, under E.U. law - same as Seatbelts, and High-Level Brake Lights. IIRC, they're also planning to include ABS as a compulsory item somewhere down the line.
I agree. But the Driver's airbag is a different beast - there's ALWAYS going to be someone behind it, in the event of a crash. My point was only regarding the drivers airbag - clearly it would be silly if Nissan's new "kneebags" were covered :)
Are you certain they're not compulsory ? ABS brakes are definately gonna be made compulsory at some point down the line (can't remember where I read that though, sorry :) - if airbags are not right now, they surely will be then.
Except that in practice, you can't. If you call a Taxi, and it arrives with no passenger airbag, it would be loonacy to turn him away and wait for another :)
But it renders him safer.
Agreed.
Er, it does. My point was that "If it has an airbag, it should work". Clearly you can't do anything about cars without airbags !
He CAN leave it bust if he wants, Lordy did it, and my parents car passed it's MOT last week with the airbag-fault-light lit. There's nothing specifically in the test saying "Your airbag fault light must not be lit" (bear in mind there's no other feasable way to test whether it's working or not).
Then perhaps crap folk will stop buying cars, and clogging up my roads :D
Yup, he can leave it at the minute, but someone said that as of next year it will be a part of the MOT, at which point, someone (*cough*) said "Excellent - it's about time car safety was mandatory" :-P
Airbags are definetely not compulsory over here, but your right in that Europe is currently considering making ABS type approval. It's also being discussed over here thanks to a recent TRL survey (not sure what Total Request Live has got to do with anything tho, heh) which estimated a 3% reduction in accidents.
Keep meaning to get it fixed, but there always seems to be something better to spend the £25 on (like petrol :)
Annnnnyways, how has the original poster got on with his SRS, any updates yet Mr JethroUK (oi, you're not the Jethro who used to play QW under that name are you?).
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