Morning all

My 55 plate Golf TDI has the above warning lights illuminated on the dash. Its due its MOT this month. Does anyone on here know if they will be picked up as MOT failure points?

Ta in advance.

Looks like it will fail;

1.
If the vehicle is fitted with an ABS and/or ESC system, check that the relevant warning lamp(s):
a.
is fitted

b.
illuminates

c.
does not indicate a fault
http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_340.htm

yes. do you know why they are illuminated?

your ABS and airbags probably don’t work if they are…

One of our cars has had an amber engine warning light on for a few years but still passes (it’s indicating a “weak catalyst” but still passes the emissions test no problem) but anything safety related like ABS or airbags is a fail these days I think.

Yes it’ll fail. If it was just one of them then, if you didn’t care about that system working, you could rewire your dashboard so it just illuminated with the others and then went out and thus no fault was indicated (this is obviously a bit dodgy but will pass an MOT). But as it’s all three, you’ll need to trace the fault and fix it.

I’d hazard a guess that one of the wheel sensors has died, hence the ABS/TCL lights being on.

Airbag, hmmm, could also be a sensor. I’ve had the clockspring in the steering wheel go, replacement sorted that. I also had a heavy concret lump go into the back of the car seat, whilst it didnt trigger the airbag, the light did come on a couple of days later. Disconnecting and re-connecting all the aigbag connections in the seat fixed the problem, so Im assuming the impact just upset on of the connectors.

*IF YOU ARE GOING TO FIDDLE ABOUT WITH THE AIRBAG SYSTEM, DISCONNECT THE BATTERY FOR AT LEAST 15 MINS FIRST!*

Yup – it is a fail. Any fitted ABS/Traction control/Stability device must work correctly.

Oh incidentally, ABS and traction control will almost certainly be the same fault (as they work on the same basic principal from the same sensors). If the airbag warning light started illuminating at the same time, it may well be a sensor that the airbag system also uses (or loose connection to a sensor) – though the slip ring on the steering wheel is a far more common fault.

I would suggest a trip to a good auto electrician or knowledgeable VW specialist if you’re not going to look at it yourself.

2 years ago I had a brake sensor warning pop up on the dashboard of our Civic. This was a month before it’s MOT and when I popped it into the local garage to get diagnostics I asked whether it would fail MOT on this basis and they said yes.

In my case I had the work done – it turned out to be a faulty ABS sensor on one of the front wheels.

A shady garage / driver would disconnect/remove the warning lights and then take it for the test. Sadly I know this as I bought a car from a in hindsight dodgy guy who had done just this with the airbag warning light as the bag had gone off and not been replaced.

As above it’s a fail and you need to get it looked at.

Cheers all.

The ABS / traction control aren’t working – I checked both on a straight wet road when there wasn’t any other traffic about. Not tested the airbag – obviously.

The ABS / Traction light only comes on once the speed has gone above about 10mph.

Off to a specialist we go then.

Check the brake pedal switch too.

My ABS/TC light came on permanently (flashes when doing something), and it turned out to be that switch.

That was a Seat Leon Mk1, so probably the same part on the Golf. I think they were more concerned about no brake lights than ABS light on at the test 😉

Was just about to suggest the brake switch. I was getting these lights on intermittently and brake lights stopped working. Replaced switch and all was good but I didn’t have any prob with ABS or traction control. This was on a Audi a4 tdi.

yup as above, it’ll fail.

my old 16v golf gti had an intermittent ABS fault. I had to pray every time it went for an MOT.

i had a polo before that, and it had an airbag fault. disconnected the bulb 😀

no such problems now i don’t have a VW..

aside from an MOT failure …… they are safety systems …. why wouldnt you want to fix them ?

does seem odd – OP was about the warning light when it turns out the actual safety systems are inoperative as well.

Who’s better for this sort of thing – Auto Electrician or local garage?

I have a CMax Airbag light on and were 99% sure it’s the connection under the passenger seat. If you give a wiggle and a bash the warning light goes out for a bit.

generally the warning light comes on because the safety system has a fault.

i mean its the lights sole purpose in life.

depends on your local garage.

My local MOT guy – i wouldnt let near my car with a multimetre. Last time i did it came back with a dash like a christmas tree and he just shrugged.

One reason for not wanting to fix them is that I’m replacing this car with a company car in a couple months so I’m reluctant to spend any money on it.

I’m driving it a bit more carefully in the wet in the knowledge that the traction control is not working.

ive been driving mine round with 3 bald tires carefully because i dont want to spend any money on it* ……

Same reasoning really. I could get it if it was an airfilter or and oil change but its a bunch of safety critical systems that could save your/family/OTHER PEOPLES family life.

*Ive not really

Plus its a 55 plate golf – working with an MOT its still worth real cash unless its starship miles.

The ABS / Traction light only comes on once the speed has gone above about 10mph.

Had similar, and the tester passed it. His comment was that by the letter of the test, if the lights come on and go out again as/when they should when the ignition is turned on (which it sounds like yours is doing) then that was a pass. If a light comes on again when driving, it wasn’t an MOT failure (though it still indicates that there’s something wrong, obviously!).

Abs wheel sensor is an easy diy thing to change if you can find a friend with code reader to tell you which one.

55 plate?

A couple of things to check that haven’t been mentioned above:

1)Check all the brake lights are functioning….obvious one, but can cause this
2)Get the ABS pump checked- there was a hoo-hah about the Teves units fitted to these models, and there’s now the option to rebuild them

Get the codes read I would say.

Re the usual VSS to kick up its heels – NSF as it get the biggest soaking etc

[quotejambalaya – Member
A shady garage / driver would disconnect/remove the warning lights and then take it for the test. Sadly I know this as I bought a car from a in hindsight dodgy guy who had done just this with the airbag warning light as the bag had gone off and not been replaced.

As above it’s a fail and you need to get it looked at.

Then it would still fail as the light has to operate correctly – i.e., Illuminate at ignition switch on & then extinguish. (VTS authorised examiner & nominated tester)