A Rant, about VOSA

So, before I get into full flow, some background.

As some of you know I swapped my Tail Light for an LED one a while back. Now the thing I was concerned about was the Indicators and them not being far enough apart etc. At the last MOT (the first with the new tail light) I was told this wasn't a problem and it passed the MOT fine.

I just had the Cat MOT'd today (at a different MOT station I might add) and guess what?

It failed !!!

Guess what on?

WRONG.

Now I have been riding bikes for 37 years now, and since I first started riding on the road I have been giving the old Double Flash of the Brake Light. The first to hopefully wake up the tin can man behind me from his air-conditioned slumber and realise that I might be stopping or slowing down then a proper squeeze to actually Brake.

I know I'm not alone in this and it has been common practice from almost every other biker I have known over those 37 years.

Now the Tail Light I bought has a Frickin Awsome feature built in by those handy American chappies that takes away the need for me to do this manually, every time I brake it automatically flashes 3 times very fast then stays on. Wicked huh?

Oh no.



Mister VOSA has a machine now that is used for the MOT to check your Brake Light. And guess what? Even though we can MANUALLY flash our brake light as many times as we want this Frikkin machine records an automatic flash as a fail.

You would not believe how embarrassed the MOT place were when they had to tell me it failed. Not even an advisor on anything else just this one thing they couldn't get around that is something we all do manually but the Frikkin powers that be have a machine that says (Computa says no!) and that's it.

It's not even a problem because all I have to do is bypass the control unit of the Tail Light for the Brake Light, but it's the hassle of having to go back for the re test, pay another fiver just for the plain stupidity of the damn VOSA 'Jobs worth' attitude.

My, we are having a good day!

I sympathise.

What a joke it makes u laugh really when they can fail you on something as stupid as this and not give the testing station power to over rule this just a con to make money given the fact we still get charged the same for mot's and all you get now adays is a copy of a piece of paper to say you have passed now they dont have to print the (must of been expensive mot) certificate.
And while we are having a rant have they not seen the modern day car indicators on the inside of headlamps not the out side i've lost count how many times i've had to brake quick cos the fact is you hardly notice the bloody things and when the suns out you cant see them at all who ever thought that was a good idea wants lining up in front of their familes and shooting.
God i feel better after that rant i think we should have a rant section as a sticky on here sort it out chaps THE DAILY RANT sounds good to me
cheers
mark

The MoT is . . . as we know . . . only good and valid at the time of issue.

Ride down the road and in the meantime your brake light bulb blows . . . you potentially could get a pull and a fine. The ink on the printed pass MoT A4 paper in yer pocket not yet even dry.

Hind Sight is 20/20 vision . . . marvelous used as a tool for learning . . . leathal used as a weapon.
So in light of this lesson (and bearing in mind the validity of said MoT) could you not, just for the MoT, fit the original light and post MoT re fit that (very nice) rear cluster ?

Sir Digby wrote:i think we should have a rant section as a sticky on here sort it out chaps THE DAILY RANT sounds good to me

Is this a site suggestion ???

0ldcat wrote:So in light of this lesson (and bearing in mind the validity of said MoT) could you not, just for the MoT, fit the original light and post MoT re fit that (very nice) rear cluster ?

Hopefully I can bypass the control circuit in which case I wont need to.

If not then yeah, I will refit the original and indicators, Retest then swap it back. Half hour job but totally unnecessary IMHO.

Just as a FYI, I emailed MotoDynamic and they are releasing a new version that is programmable. You can Turn the Brake flash on and off and set the Indicators to a solid flash rather than the scroll if you prefer.

I remember (queue wavey lines) a number of years back now, where something simillar happened with Volvo estate cars failing the MoT for their "high" level (fitted as standard) brake lights.

Didn't of course come to light (pardon the pun) until 3 years after release in the UK (obviously). It was amazing to see just how fast the goal posts moved when a major importer applied pressure for a rule change for what was then not only a good idea but also a thing done by what are regarded as THEE leading bunch in safety inovation.

Like I said in another thread, you need to find a different, less rigorous, testing station.

The one I go to just visually checks that the light comes on.

All test centres HAVE to adhere to the same set of rules and regulations unfortunately and the Ministry Of Transport are rigorous in their spot checks and 'mystery shopping' of testing stations. As much as the testers don't agree wholly with the new legislation they are almost powerless not to enforce it. The ones who repeatedly are caught out for this are having their status stripped and being forced out of business as a result.

They fact that the M.O.T have scrapped the test certificate as a way of saving money but the test stations still have to pay for their own paper, use hardware specified by the ministry, pay for it and pay for overpriced consumables, (over £100 for a replacement toner cartridge) tells me that the ministry in fact don't give a damn about the test centres but make them the scapegoats as they are at the sharp end dealing with Joe Public.

My friend has a car MOT station and it beggers belief the shit he puts up with from the Ministry. He said its barely even an income stream anymore and has considered pulling out. He's self employed but did you know he has to get written permission from The ministry to take holidays!! It's a joke pure and simple!!

Whilst I agree in principle with the level of red tape, to be fair it is easy enough to find out what the requirements are for the MoT and therefore whether or not your bike is likely to pass.

I guess your light isn't 'E' marked either, so would undoubtedly fail Construction and Use regulations.

Unfortunately it isn't a free-for-all, and is likely to get a whole lot more restricted if the new EU laws get passed.

There are a lot of "new" things that will be tested soon when VOSA works out a way to inforce them and a fool proof way of having them tested. The Truck and Bus industry have had to work to tighter and more extreme testing every year for the last several years. A common plug for VOSA to plug into so they can download information from the vehicle ECUs came in several years ago, BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING cars and motorcycles will be next. The good side is the Thundercat is to old to have anything like that fitted, unless we follow the Japanese and not allow anything older than 5 years old on the road [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

past-it wrote:There are a lot of "new" things that will be tested soon when VOSA works out a way to inforce them and a fool proof way of having them tested. The Truck and Bus industry have had to work to tighter and more extreme testing every year for the last several years. A common plug for VOSA to plug into so they can download information from the vehicle ECUs came in several years ago, BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING cars and motorcycles will be next. The good side is the Thundercat is to old to have anything like that fitted, unless we follow the Japanese and not allow anything older than 5 years old on the road [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

What can the get from the vehicle ECU's that is so good or bad???

What the heck do they do with old vehicles in Japan? Is everything on a lease? No point in buying anything if you can't use it 'eventually'.

Didn't I see something like that on the MAG website last year? That the EU ptb are going to introduce a new statute where bikes over 5 years old won't be allowed in 'urban areas'? Wtf constitutes an 'urban area' anyway & are we all supposed to park outside these & walk?

Grrrrr

Rosco wrote:What the heck do they do with old vehicles in Japan?

For cars and some trucks at least there is a huge second hand market in Africa. I'm sure I've seen some pre-owned bikes ex Japan too.

The French are attempting the same with banning older vehicles entering Paris, wonder how long London will hold off before doing the same thing?

I felt a bit short changed when I got my white sheet of paper at the last MOT, but that's progress!! At least now my mechy doesn't have to try and get the printer to work every time he completed a test, the language he used on it should be reserved for when burning your hand trying to remove exhaust studs.

What can you get from a vehicle ECU? Well if the system is a full CanBus system(most new vehicles) what ever the manufacture thinks it needs which could be just about anything that is connected to the electrics.

I guess you're talking about the OBD II ports that have been mandatory on EU-homologated cars and trucks for years. You can get all sorts of engine and vehicle data off of them; if you look on Google you'll be able to find consumer plugs that will go in there and send data to apps on phones and laptops. You can also reprogrammed certain aspects of the car via this port.