Rebody Rebody Dashboard

[Duncodin]

I don't know the requirements of the MOT in Finland.....but remember no-one can 'test' an airbag. They are a 'one use only' product. They can only rely on the lights going out to prove the SRS system doesn't have any faults, which then presumes the system is operating correctly.
That can be very easily overcome with a cheap timer for the light!

Why do the original gauges need to be in place? Surely any gauges which give the correct information would suffice.

In the UK the 'rules are the rules' apply to everything, but we can get through an MOT easily with airbags removed and any gauges you like (as long as the MOT inspector can tick the right boxes on his sheet).

I don't know what it's like in finland but I do (or did) know what it's like in Germany where you could not go in to halfords and buy something like a generic bootlid spoiler. Simply didn't exist. If you own a z3 and if you buy an accessory for it then that accessory was made, and tested and come with a certificate from the OEM and/or by TUV or DEKRA certifying that said accessiry is compatible with that vehicle. In the case of a spoiler the certificate even includes wind tunnel tests results proving that the accessory doesn't have a detrimental affect on the vehicle.

On something like a dashboard. Their theory is that the car manufacturer smashed a load of cars into walls with crash test dummies. You change your dashboard and the car is no longer the same as the one that was originally tested by smashing Olaf, the crash test dummy's, face into it.

Also the tester is allowed to use his/her brain. He/she doesn't just look at a LED. They can look at a steering wheel and see that it isn't the one the car was made with and that there's no airbag behind that tiny ferrari logo in the centre of the wheel.

I don't understand how anyone in germany could every do a rebody without jumping through so many hoops that would make it non viable.

But, as I said, I have no idea what it's like in finland.

Personally I find it weird that here in the UK we can do these things having lived most of my driving life in a country where I couldn't even put different size tyres on my car without going for a TUV inspection to confirm that the new size was authorized by the vehicle OEM and entered, bynTUV, into the vehicle log book.

 

[Pond]

Also the tester is allowed to use his/her brain. He/she doesn't just look at a LED. They can look at a steering wheel and see that it isn't the one the car was made with and that there's no airbag behind that tiny ferrari logo in the centre of the wheel.

The MOT tester isn't allowed to use his/her brain. He/she has to just tick a box. Of course they will know there is no airbag, but it doesn't matter what they think; it matters what the MOT requirement is. And the requirement in the UK (at present) is that warning lights go out to show there are no faults.

I don't really see any issue with airbags, or lack of. There are still many vehicles on the road which never had airbags, ABS, safety cells, seat belts, etc. If the UK want to go down that rabbit hole, all of these older cars would need to be scrapped. And we still have the ridiculous rule of any vehicle over 40 years old not needing an MOT at all, so in theory there are lots of complete death traps driving about perfectly legally.

My car has no airbags. The ONLY person that can possibly adversely affect is ME, no-one else. If I was driving around in a 41 year old car with a rotten chassis at 70mph, perfectly legally, that could adversely affect other people.

 

[Pond]

Personally I find it weird that here in the UK we can do these things having lived most of my driving life in a country where I couldn't even put different size tyres on my car without going for a TUV inspection to confirm that the new size was authorized by the vehicle OEM and entered, bynTUV, into the vehicle log book.

Thank God we haven't got to the 'stazi' stage of Germany yet, then.

 

[Pond]

On the subject of Z3 airbags.....
Unless they have been replaced (unlikely), all airbags in a Z3 are at least 23 years old; most older. When I took my passenger airbag out, it was in a right state. The frame was rusty, the fabric was mouldy (Z3s leak) and I wouldn't be confident in it deploying if needed. Even if it did deploy, I wouldn't put money on it being of much use.

 

[Pingu]

On the subject of Z3 airbags.....
Unless they have been replaced (unlikely), all airbags in a Z3 are at least 23 years old; most older. When I took my passenger airbag out, it was in a right state. The frame was rusty, the fabric was mouldy (Z3s leak) and I wouldn't be confident in it deploying if needed. Even if it did deploy, I wouldn't put money on it being of much use.

I read somewhere (a long time ago - it may have been at work in the MOD) that the service interval for a certain vehicle (I can't remember which) included all airbags being checked and tested / replaced after 10 years. I don't know how you can fully test an airbag without deploying it, but hey ho.

[edit] Google suggests that I wasn't making it up...

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