Mot fail … boot won’t open using button on inside of car

Need my car Mot’d urgently, so forced to go to kwikfit (reluctantly)

They just rang to say they can’t mot car as the bonnet won’t open. The switch is a bit temperamental.

No worries I tell them, just pull the cable sticking out the bumper and it releases the catch. It’s literally like a handle. So they can easily access the bonnet

They are saying that if the switch won’t work then it’s a fail, despite fact they can easily open and securely close the bonnet very easily using the cable lever

I call bull sxxt that is an mot fail. As long as you can open the bonnet is all that matters

Am I correct before I kick up a fuss?

For context I’ve had this issue for 10 years and it’s never failed it’s mot based on a dodgy button to open the bonnet

Ta

Remove switch. Cover the hole left in Sugru.

Re-submit for new MOT.

It now does not have an internal switch to fail.

I’ve had my car pass MOT twice with a wire to pull at the corner of the bonnet as the cable release to the inside release had broken. That was a local garage and I told them where it was.

It’s now fixed and working properly 😁

Assuming the info on this website is correct:

MOT Test of Bonnet Catch | What is checked for MOT

I’d be asking which of these, it fails on.

Didnt take much googling

MOT Test of Bonnet Catch | What is checked for MOT – MOT Test Information (motester.co.uk)

b. A bonnet primary retaining device excessively deteriorated, ineffective or insecure. “Major”

bonnets a fail – boot is not .

Yeah, the thread title has me confused. Maybe it’s a rear engine? 😉

b. A bonnet primary retaining device excessively deteriorated, ineffective or insecure. “Major”

The handle isn’t the primary retaining device, the latch under the leading edge of the bonnet is the primary, and secondary retaining device.

The handle isn’t the primary retaining device, the latch under the leading edge of the bonnet is the primary, and secondary retaining device.

Really, what car is it ? on a Caterham the primary device would be the latch on the side of the bonnet I would agree

in OPs case he says the car has a button inside, which will be the primary. But it is odd as every car I have owned as been a cable pull inside the car, nit just a button

Op needs to confirm his boot from his bonnet

It’s a boxster, has 2 boots, one at front, one at back. Issue is the one at the front

The catch is perfectly secure and shuts firmly, so it can’t be argued it fails on that basis. The switch doesn’t work is the issue.

That would be my thought too Mert. Here’s no mention of the catch release mechanism.

I always assumed that was why mine passed, both latches actually worked fine, it just had an old brake cable to pull to release it for a while.

what can you access under the froot? from loose memory its nothing they need to inspect for the mot so you can challenge it. Would be a bit different (although imo just an advisery) if it was actually the bonnet (covering the engine)

The catch is perfectly secure and shuts firmly, so it can’t be argued it fails on that basis. The switch doesn’t work is the issue.

But the cable isnt the primary way of opening the front boot.

what can you access under the froot? from loose memory its nothing they need to inspect for the mot so you can challenge it

Is it oil, windscreen fluid ? There is definitely serviceable parts in the front

Really, what car is it ? on a Caterham the primary device would be the latch on the side of the bonnet I would agree

Caterham is an entirely different kettle of worms, and I’m not sure how they distinguish between primary and secondary. It’s *probably* either a two stage process to undo the strap, so primary and secondary. Or they have two, wholly independent devices, or it may be exempted, because the bonnet can’t fly up and obscure vision.

in OPs case he says the car has a button inside, which will be the primary. But it is odd as every car I have owned as been a cable pull inside the car, nit just a button

No, the button/cable pull/lever is simply the release mechanism, it just operates the retaining device. the Primary latch is the one that holds the bonnet firmly in place, the secondary is the one in use when you see confused people driving around with the bonnet open half an inch.

what can you access under the froot?

The catch.

The catch is testable.

No access to the catch, no pass.

They just rang to say they can’t mot car as the bonnet won’t open.

Which isn’t the same as a fault fail, it’s an abandoned test.

They are saying that if the switch won’t work then it’s a fail,

Not an Mot tester but it’s certainly arguable that a faulty release is a faulty catch given you can’t tell why it won’t release when it should you can’t be sure it won’t do so when it shouldn’t.

what can you access under the froot?

It doesn’t really matter. The bonnet lid opening while driving would be a safety hazard.

Not an Mot tester but it’s certainly arguable that a faulty release is a faulty catch given you can’t tell why it won’t release when it should you can’t be sure it won’t do so when it shouldn’t.

That’s the only possible reason i can think of, the release handle is there and looks like it should work, but it doesn’t.
Kwikfit can’t be arsed to dig around pulling a brake cable hanging out of the grill, so it fails, not because the primary and secondary latches are faulty, but because they can’t test.

Is it a BMW or other type of car where 2 pulls on the inner handle fully opens the bonnet?

@OP – as suggested above, make it obvious that the button inside the car is not the bonnet release eg. blank the button & stick a label over it saying “Release bonnet using cable pull at front of car”, resubmit for test. Then never ever go near KwikFit ever again.

Oh and make sure you know if it classed as a fail or ‘not tested’. If it has been logged as fail then you’re restricted to driving it to/from repair or retest, if it wasn’t tested then you are OK to use it (assuming the old MOT is still within date).

Edit – seems that’s not the case now they have changed the test outcomes – as long as it’s not a dangerous fault you can carry on driving until the previous test expires.

(assuming the old MOT is still within date).

But the OP said they needed it done urgently so that suggests it isn’t in date (or soon won’t be).

On a related note, my mate drove away from a garage after having some front minor crash damage repaired. At around 60mph the bonnet flew up and impacted the windscreen completely blocking his view – the garage had forgotten to re- fit the catch after the repair….

He luckily managed to stop without hitting anything and all would have been well except for one unfortunate thing – the impact dislodged the rearview mirror which hit him square in the nuts so hard he needed an operation on his bollox

Anyway, as you were.

Is it oil, windscreen fluid ? There is definitely serviceable parts in the front

servicable yes – mot testable – no .

I just called the local Halfords mot place. They confirmed that kwikfit are talking pish and that as long as you can get into the boot or bonnet, and it closes securely, it isn’t a fail

Clearly my reluctance to let kwikfit anywhere near my car up until this point has been well justified

I just called the local Halfords mot place. They confirmed that kwikfit are talking pish and that as long as you can get into the boot or bonnet, and it closes securely, it isn’t a fail

according to some of the links above, it wouldn’t be a fail as such but they might decline to test it, if that’s their policy.

Clearly my reluctance to let kwikfit anywhere near my car up until this point has been well justified

well, duh!! 😉

OTOH, you’ve had 10 years to fix it and been given another week before the next test fee…

There’s nothing wrong with the retaining device, however you choose to define primary / secondary etc. The fault is on the release mechanism.

If anything, if you can’t open it then that’s more safe. 😁

the impact dislodged the rearview mirror which hit him square in the nuts so hard he needed an operation on his bollox

Oooof. Wincing.

OTOH, you’ve had 10 years to fix it and been given another week before the next test fee…

it sometimes works, it sometimes doesn’t. Spending a couple of hundred quid to avoid the hassle of pulling a cable when it doesn’t work when I’m putting my stuff in the front doesn’t seem like a great use of cash tbh

Obviously I had not factored in dealing with the morons at kwikfit though..

If they have abandoned the test then they have done you a favor an abandoned test normally has no fee attached and not logged as a fail. as it was Kwik fit they would have failed it on tyres or brakes anyway. Or if they had them in stock window wipers

The reasons for refusing to carry out the test are:

g. A proper examination cannot be carried out because any door, tailgate, boot, engine cover, fuel cap or other device designed to be easily opened cannot be easily opened.

g. A proper examination cannot be carried out because any door, tailgate, boot, engine cover, fuel cap or other device designed to be easily opened cannot be easily opened.

Which is understandable. But it can easily be opened, by pulling a easily accessible tag at front of car. It’s actually easier than opening the car, and pressing the button as you don’t need to actually get in the car!

I explained this to them but either they clearly couldn’t be arsed to do this, or didn’t understand the mot criteria as they claimed ‘it needs to be able to be opened from the inside’

They probably did me a favour as what else would they have failed me on if they don’t know what the pass criteria is.

That said the rules are a bit daft. I had a car with headlight wipers that didn’t work, technically a fail. If I didn’t have any wipers in the first place (ie on any other car I’ve ever had) then it didn’t matter. But if I have them they must work, despite them not working producing exactly the same result as not having any at all, ie mucky headlights

Luckily the guy doing the mot let it go after I asked him to just rip them off and pretend they weren’t there in first place!

I taped over front fog lights just before an MOT when I spotted that one of the lenses was cracked. The cracked lens would have been a fail. Taped lenses was not.

This is the Modus Operandi of KwikFit. Jack your car up, say it needs XYZ and threaten you with calling the police/breaking the law. Tell them to jog on and get it done elsewhere. Bunch of nobs.

At around 60mph the bonnet flew up and impacted the windscreen completely blocking his view

Something similar happened to my friend’s ropey old Escort in the late 90s.

His b0ll0x were fine, but in an effort to make the bonnet stay closed (I think the catch actually broke on his) he jumped up and down on it, which bent the front subframe and wrote off his car.

At around 60mph the bonnet flew up and impacted the windscreen completely blocking his view

Something similar happened to my friend’s ropey old Escort in the late 90s.

I was the front seat passenger in an Escort van in the early 90’s when the same thing happened. I wasn’t looking straight ahead so it was a shock to me. I stuck my head out of the window to guide the driver on to the verge, thankfully a straight road. A friend was lying in the back of the van and thought we had had a head on collision.
The van was a right off because the roof was bent out of shape but we managed to tie the bonnet down with shoe laces if I remember correctly to limp home 🙂

What’s been confusing me is the constant references to a button or switch inside that needs to be pressed. I can’t think of any car I’ve driven where the initial release hasn’t been a tab or lever under the dash or at the side of the footwell just inside the door, which you have to pull once or twice, to release the catch, then grope around under the leading edge of the bonnet trying to find a lever cunningly concealed where it’s least likely to be found. I’ve had to resort to the handbook on some cars to find it, and others actually using a torch in daylight to find the main release catch to get the bonnet open.
A frequent occurrence, when cars are parked up for periods of time and batteries die.

But hey, Kwik-fit; what can I say. 🤷🏼 I would include Halfords in that as well.

Seems odd and very kwikfit. The bonnet release on our Astra has been broken for the six years we’ve owned it and for a fair amount of time the PO had it.
The only mention it’s had was one tester asking if it needed a pair of pliers to open. Which it does (can be done by hand but tricky).
No mention on MOT paperwork anywhere at various MOT centres.

Own a Porsche and cba to spend a bit of money to fix a minor defect.
With that mentality, you should own a 1982 Cavalier – not a Porsche 😉

Having owned a few Porsches and one 1993 Cavalier, things were way more likely to work on the Cav. Although the Cavalier was a lot newer in relative terms.

What’s been confusing me is the constant references to a button or switch inside that needs to be pressed. I can’t think of any car I’ve driven where the initial release hasn’t been a tab or lever under the dash or at the side of the footwell just inside the door,

i think on some rear engined porsches, the bonnet release is only an electronic button.
the battery is under the bonnet
if the battery is dead, bonnet won’t open.
theres some trick with the fuse box (in the footwell) to make it release