Mot

[Guest topcarp2]

if the front passenger windows on a car that is subject to mot are tinted (even lightly)can this be an mot failure..my mates jeep has a very dark tint on the front windows and his went thru ok ,yet another mate has a scooby with a light tint and its just failed cos of them..also if you wind the windows down before the mot and femove the fuse so they cant be wound back up and so cannot be seen can this be a failure..which garage is in the wrong the one who passed the dark tints or the one who failed the light ones?

[steve67car]

its down to the tester :lol: crazy i know but its down to there interpretate the law :D

[Masked Marauder]

The only glass that should be checked by the MOT tester is the front screen and that will be failed if any opaque film is fitted. Any other tint is not tested other than for scratching etc, as the tester is neither trained to, or has the equipment to test it.

 

Side windows are outside the remit of an MOT Tester. Anyone who does test them is being over-zealous and going beyond their training.

[dulux72]

Not sure about the MOT side but......

 

The police in my local area have been pulling the boy racers over and now have a meter which tests light transmission through tinted windows.

 

Anything less than a very slight tint fails and a notice is issued which makes it illegal to drive the vehicle. They have to leave the car there and then and have 14 days to remove the tint.

[Masked Marauder]

As above though, the police and VOSA do have the enforcement authority, and the have the correct testing equipment. They are looking for aftermarket tint film and excessively tinted windows.

 

Any less than 70% of light getting through the tint is an offence and unless it is classed as "Heavily Tinted." Where less than 30% of light gets through then normally a rectification ticket is issued. The ticket is taken to an MOT station to make sure the problem has been resolved. Then strange paradox is that the MOT tester does not have the meter and there is no timescale for him to have it on the basis of unit costs. Bear in mind at this time the MOT stations are having to swallow the cost of the new computerised MOT. So how can he confirm the rectification if he is nether equiped or trained to do it?

 

A prohibition notice is normally only issued if less than 30% of light is getting through the tint.

 

It should be noted that technically any aftermarket film is not legal, but usually a very low tint or clear security film will be ignored as long as it does not obscure vision and is properly fitted.

[sip]

My nephew drives a BMW X5 that has factory fitted tints on both driver & passenger door windows!!

[Guest TheBogyman]

You guys on the mainland dont know your living, in NI they giv ethe car a real going over, its being interduced into the mainland soon, they shake the shit out of the car if there is a garage name on the bottom of the number plate they even fail you for that, really bogus, but the tint thing is right, they will fail for two dark windows,,,

[Masked Marauder]

http://www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_roads/documents/page/dft_roads_032791.hcsp

 

Question from:

 

The British Motorcyclists Federation (BMF)

 

The Public Carriage Office (PCO)

 

Visual light transmission should be checked as part of the MOT test.

 

DFt Answer:

 

The Department does not believe that the incidence of illegally tinted windows is sufficiently large to justify supplying 19,500 MOT testing stations with equipment to test visual light transmittance levels for every vehicle during an MOT test. The situation will be kept under review but at present we believe that the most effective way of ensuring that the standards enforced is to target offending motorists through roadside enforcement.

 

VOSA Tinted Windows leaflet in PDF format http://www.vosa.gov.uk/vosa/publications/t...information.pdf

 

As you point out though, in Northern Ireland the annual test is carried out by the DVTA and they do have the correct testing equipment to test the glass. And I agree if the PFI was available to do the same over here then quite a few motorists would be shocked at what they will do to your car.