Airbag removal
 

I know if an airbag light is on it is a fail, you can remove the bulb an this will result in a pass. I had presumed that if you swap a steering wheel with a non airbag version and removed the bulb it would pass but I was advised by my MOT tester that it would fail.
If a car was fitted with an airbag it must be present or immediate fail.
From the MOT website

No Airbags

Q can airbags be removed from a car that does sprint/track days now and then but also be a road car and the steering wheel replaced with a non airbag wheel, and what about jap imports that have had the system removed before it came to the uk

A
No, the vehicle must have airbags fitted if they were in the original manufacturers specifications for the vehicle, and they have to be fully working

Maybe a nice wood affect steering wheel warmer.

I think wca covered all this in his original build .... find his build thread

Good morning i cant comment on what the MOT site says regarding air bags , but my car has the airbags removed along with the control unit and went through an MOT last year with a pass and no comment from the tester , my basic understanding was if an air bag light illuminated on the dash it had to go off on starting , but if there was no air bag light illuminated , then OK , Geoff .

It may simply be a case of , if the tester doesn't know the airbags gone and the lights not on , he won't give it anymore thought ....if the subject comes up , then he maybe has to deal with it .....

In the same way that an MX5 with really rusty rear sills and rear arches will fail , but if it has an MX250 kit glued over the top , it will pass ...they can only test what they can see and aren't , generally , allowed to remove anything to investigate further ...

Hi,

It talks about 'As far as practicable, check that all airbags fitted as original equipment are present and not obviously defective.' in the MOT inspection manual.

As your car is re-registered as not a Z3 and something else then there is no 'original equipment' as it is a kit car, you just so happened to use some Z3 parts as part of your 'kit car' build, right.....:eusa_shhh:

Also I have the passenger airbag present and fully functional, with no warning light on the dash. However the SRS airbag embossed text is covered with a well placed, rather nice looking, badge.

Mine went through the MOT and they were more concerned that people might trip on my exhausts as they extend out a couple of inches from the car! so I got an advisory :noidea:

Good luck!

I removed the airbag, and replaced the steering wheel.

You can get some fancy diode (or resister or something like that) that you can plug into the wiring to make the sensor think the bag is still there.

I just removed the airbag sensor too and so no lights and no problems at MOT


Some bits here : http://www.madabout-kitcars.com/foru...ead.php?t=4917

Good point Andy. I had asked my MOT tester about a Z3, maybe a California 250 will be different, I will ask.
I know my MOT testers both very well and never have a problem with them. This came about as I asked what check lights needed to be there id the dash were changed. ABS light must be present.

Just buy a resistor (or 2 if you have dual airbag wheel like mine) and patch it across the airbag terminals. They're very low resistance to mirror the airbag load. Once the resistors are in get the warning light reset.

There's a couple of guides out there on the net that explain it and the resistors are available on ebay - just search be air bag resistor

Taking the bulb out is a bit of a bodge when you can sort it this way.

I have a couple of 3 ohm resistors in the wife's CLK as a couple of seat airbags had gone off. I have no problems with removing bulbs or adding resistors but I was told if the Z3 was presented with an aftermarket steering wheel with no airbag it was a fail. This was from both MOT testers.
However I might be able to go the route "California 250" was never fitted with airbags.
I'm taking the Harley in for an MOT next week so will take the Z3, sorry, California 250 V5 and see what they say.

All air bags are removed from race and rally cars. I am sure they are exempt from this.

Therefore they would fail an MOT.

You can always refit the Z3 steering wheel for the MOT. Swop it out again when you get home.

re-airbag removal
 

i have always found that a nice "single malt "at crimbo brings my mot guy around to my way of thinking over "minor technicalities" lol:eusa_shhh:

My two get a bottle of Jack each every year. Apart from the Z3 handbrake last year I haven't had a failure in 10 years.

According to science, alcohol IS A SOLUTION!

Ive just spoken to Rich at Nubodi as my MOT is due the end of May 2017. He says the DVLA states if the vehicle was originally fitted with an airbag or airbags then they have to be present and working correctly for the vehicle to pass the MOT test. Removing them along with the controllers and wiring or fitting emulators will not be accepted. This is regardless of a name change on the log book. This has been confirmed by DVLA and several MOT testers.
He also says he does not believe the airbags work on Z3's as he was a passenger in one with a massive frontal impact and they never deployed, also they have had several CAT C write-offs through their workshops with airbags intact. This does not affect the law though.

So you have two choices, put everything back in once a year or find a tester with common sense. If anyone has one of these perhaps we should start a database but obviously not print it anywhere.

Thank you for the clarification ...I bet Rich was impressed getting a call early on a Sunday morning !

Evidently I was not the first call and as he always tells me Sunday is just another work day.

Fair play to him then ...I work Sundays when I have to and although my hours are flexible as you tend to be answering emails and stuff in the evenings and ordering parts etc..the unseen , unpaid side of the job ...I do get a bit annoyed at out of hours phone calls if they are very late in the evening or on a Sunday .....You have to have time away from it ..it's very stressful , more than people could begin to imagine sometimes , and if you don't have some time out , it's just not worth the aggro in my opinion ...

Hows the dash fit going Brendan , by the way ?
I think a lot of people would like to see some pictures of it in the car , it seems to be the Hot Topic at the moment , retro dashes that is ...there's not much more that can be added to a Tribute kit , so dashboards , bumpers etc will always be of interest ...
I guess your car has gone back in because you bought in 2015 originally , so any chance of some pics of her out and about at all ? I have a soft spot for the rat look / barn find / racetrack refugee/ tatty paint look as some of my past builds will demonstrate ....and apart from Chris's efforts , have yet to see another one done like that ...