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It’s come time for your car to go for a vehicle inspection. Only there appears to be a problem. Your car’s airbag light is on, and you’re now worried it will cause your vehicle to fail the inspection.
You may have recently bought a new car, to discover that the airbag light is on, which wasn’t reported as a fault.
Now you have to have the vehicle inspected, and it has become an additional problem for you to worry about. Or, you might even have been driving, and the airbag light suddenly appeared on the dash.
Therefore you may now be concerned and not know what the airbag light being on means or what to do about it. On top of that, the inspection is just around the corner.
In this article, we will look at everything you need to know about an airbag light being on and whether or not its appearance should be a cause for concern.
We will also look at if the airbag light being on will impact your car passing an inspection.
What Exactly Is An Airbag Warning Light?
Wondering what exactly an airbag warning light is, where you would find it, and how you would identify it? We can luckily answer these questions relatively easily.
You will find your airbag warning light on the dashboard of your car. It will appear as a red or amber light, and the icon will most likely be, depending on the vehicle, a seatbelted figure with a circle surrounding it or in front of it.
You will most likely find this symbol for the airbag light somewhere between your car dials behind your steering wheel.
If the seatbelted figure is on and a different color, it alerts you to a potential problem with the car’s airbags.
When you start your vehicle, this light will light up like your other symbols on the dashboard. This is because your car engine control unit does a test every time you switch it on to see any electrical feature problems.
Most of the time, these lit up icons on the dash will stay on for a few seconds. If, after a few seconds, your car airbag light is still on, then it is alerting you to something being wrong with the airbag.
Why Is This Important?
Knowing where your airbag light is and identifying what the symbol is on the dashboard is very important.
If you know to look for an amber or red light on a seatbelted figure icon, you will know that something is wrong with your airbag.
This could save your life. Additionally, if you know that the airbag light shouldn’t be on more than a few seconds after you start your car, you will know that there is a possibility of an airbag fault.
Will My Car Pass A Regular Inspection With The Airbag Light On?
A regular inspection is very different from an MOT inspection.
Your vehicle will not pass or fail in most regular or standard safety inspections, as it isn’t a test. According to most inspection criteria, a vehicle will not fail an inspection if an airbag light is on.
However, note that should your car be undergoing an enhanced safety inspection, your vehicle will fail if it has an airbag fault. This includes if the airbag has been removed or if the airbag symbol is illuminated.
Your vehicle will only have to undergo an enhanced safety inspection if your car was stolen or involved in a disaster such as a flood or fire.
The enhanced safety inspection would require you to have your vehicle returned to its original manufactured condition to pass under these circumstances.
Remember that even though your car won’t fail a standard or regular inspection with an airbag light on, you should still take your car to be fixed.
For a standard or regular inspection, an inspector will check your car to see your vehicle’s condition and any faults.
The qualified personnel will usually mark on a report what is wrong with your car. When they conduct the vehicle examination, they will likely, under each car component heading, give a point on a color rating.
When they check your car’s airbag light, and it is off, they will mark it green. If it is on but not a severe fault, they will mark it amber for a warning.
Should they mark it red on the report, it means danger. Amber or red illuminated airbag light would lead an inspector to mark on the report that the airbag presents a threat and advise you to address it immediately.
Why Is This Important?
It is incredibly important that you take note of the results of your inspection report. As an inspection report is not a test, you don’t need to be worried about passing or failing it.
However, you should consider that this could vary depending on your country.
If you don’t address an airbag fault, you place yourself and others in danger. An inspection report will alert you to the severity of the airbag fault and help you figure out how to fix it.
Will My Car Pass An Mot Inspection With The Airbag Light On?
With an MOT inspection for roadworthiness, your car would fail the inspection if the airbag light was on.
Should your airbag light indicate a system fault, then your vehicle will fail when you take it in for MOT certification. An MOT differs significantly from Standard or regular inspections.
This is because an MOT measures your car’s roadworthiness. An Airbag fault is a dangerous hazard and could lead to injuries or death.
As such, an inspector will fail your vehicle. This is because any hazard is grounds for an inspector to class your car as unroadworthy.
Should your vehicle’s airbag be missing or your airbag light be inoperative, your car will fail the MOT inspection.
However, it is incredibly vital to note that if the passenger airbag light has been switched off, this is not grounds for you to fail the MOT inspection.
As long as the passenger airbag light isn’t displaying a system fault and the airbag is active and in the car, you will pass the MOT inspection.
Why Is This Important?
Passing an MOT inspection is vital if you want your car to be roadworthy. If an airbag light is illuminated, inoperative, or missing, you will fail an MOT inspection.
It is vital to know what could cause your car to fail the MOT inspection.
This is so that you avoid wasting your time and the risk of having an unroadworthy car.
What Does It Mean If My Car Airbag Light Is On?
A car airbag light can come on and stay on for many different reasons. If you can identify these reasons, you can fix the airbag fault before taking it for a regular MOT inspection.
Your Car Airbags Are No Longer Active
Perhaps the most apparent reason your car airbag light is on is that the car airbags were deployed.
If you have purchased a car or want to buy a car, you must check if the airbags are still active. If the airbags went off, this could be why your car displays a check airbag light on the dash.
Presently and in the future, this could save you time and money and alert you to any possible car accidents.
The Cars Steering Wheel Was Removed
Another reason your car’s airbag light could be on is if someone took the steering wheel off at some point in time.
Removal of the steering wheel breaks the electrical connection between the airbag sensors and the car’s engine control unit. This would lead to a check airbag light coming up.
This means that somebody could have had to replace your car steering wheel, and they didn’t reconnect the airbag.
Otherwise, it could simply mean that your steering wheel was removed to gain access to the steering column.
Either way, you will need to take the car to a mechanic or auto shop. They can address the airbag light being on and fix it.
There Is An Electrical Fault In Your Car
Additionally, your car airbag light could be on due to an electrical fault. Since the airbag works off of sensors, there is a lot of wiring around the steering column.
This could cause a wiring fault that could be triggering your airbag light to switch on.
Should this be what is transpiring, you will need to take your vehicle to an auto electrician. The auto electrician would then have to follow the wires to identify the fault and fix it.
Once they have found the fault and fixed it, the airbag light should switch off.
Your Car Was In An Accident
Frequently an airbag light being on indicates that a minor accident occurred. Any past accident or future accident could cause your car’s airbag light to be on.
Even an accident that hasn’t caused the airbags to deploy could cause the airbag light to switch on.
Taking the car to a mechanic to do a diagnostic test will help to solve the problem of the light being on. Additionally, it would also alert you to any other potential issues.
Why Is This Important?
It is essential to know why your airbag light is on. Understanding why it is on will alert you to what you need to do to fix it. You will also increase the likelihood of your vehicle passing an MOT inspection on the first try.
In conclusion, your car won’t pass or fail a standard or regular inspection if the airbag light is on.
However, if you don’t address the issue, the vehicle will not pass an MOT inspection. After a regular check, you should know how to resolve the airbag light issue.
You will also learn how quickly you will need to fix it. You will also understand what is required to pass an MOT inspection.
James has been a car enthusiast since his childhood when he learned the differences between a ford and a chevy from his father. He loves to drive and restore old cars with a special drive for Italian marvels. Currently, he has a 1968 Alfa Romeo. He has studied aeronautics and civil aviation in his college and still gets smitten by Galant SS and Lancer GSR.
He is a New York-based product training director working with a giant automotive retailer. He loves to review and uncover the vehicles and their fascinating stories. He believes in keeping it legitimate with a keen passion for research on the latest technological upgrades in cars. While reading his articles or blogs, you can sense the extensive research and dedication backing the piece of text. He loves fried chicken, music, and spending quality time with his pet dog.
