Advisory on first MOT!

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TonyL

Member
Joined
Nov 28, 2017
Messages
7
Hi,

My PHEV has just had it's annual service and first MOT. I was shocked to see an advisory on the MOT which was "Steering rack has slight free play detected at steering wheel (2.3 (a) (i))".

According to the main dealer where it was serviced, all PHEV's have this, it was still safe and it would be the same if they changed the steering rack!

Quite how a three year old, main dealer serviced, vehicle can acceptably have advisories on its first MOT is hard to believe.

Anyone else experienced this?
 
If the dealer assures you that it is within tolerance, I see little reason to worry. Does the steering feel sloppy in any way?
In general MOT tolerances are a bit of a catch-all with no provision for individual discrepancies per vehicle type.
 
Hi,

Many thanks for your response but, personally, I still can't believe it is acceptable for a three year old car, with low mileage, to raise concerns during its MOT.

Thankfully, I am able to return the car at the end of my contract. If I had bought the car outright, I would be suffering financially as a result of this. MOT information is in the public domain!

Buyers beware!

Tony
 
Things can and do wear in 3 years, and if it's enough they will be picked up on the MOT. If I bought a brand new car and drove it every day on rutted farm tracks, I would expect that after 3 years the suspension bushes to be showing signs of wear. Similarly if I did a lot of steering whilst stationary, I'd expect the steering rack to wear faster than if I didn't. Maybe not enough to be detected on an MOT, but wear would still be there. Even bumping a kerb whilst parking could be enough to damage a trackrod end and make it a little looser. If I lived by the sea and parked where there's standing salty water, I'd expect more surface rust underneath than if I lived in a town with a nice garage.

Whilst it could be a fault with your car that there's excessive play in the steering, I can't find any reference to anyone having excessive steering play on here or the FB groups so I'd say it's unlikely to be a systemic problem with the Outlander as such.

You're also quite entitled to take the car to a different MOT test station even with a fail (as long as you drive straight home, and then to a pre-booked appointment only, no using it in between). So if you don't agree with the advisory, take it somewhere else and if they say it's not an issue the MOT record will show no current advisories, merely one thing that has apparently been fixed.
 
I agree, three years is no guarantee of something not being worn.

Plus, this is an advisory, not a failure!

My considerable experience of MoT stations and advisories is that it is all very much down to the tester's knowledge and interpretation. For example, I have had advisories on cars one year, and not on the same car for the following 2, 3 or even 4 years, even though I have done absolutely nothing to rectify whatever the 'advisory' was for!

So who's right ? I know there was nothing 'wrong' with those cars and that the advisories were just one man's opinion on one day.
 
TonyL said:
Hi,

My PHEV has just had it's annual service and first MOT. I was shocked to see an advisory on the MOT which was "Steering rack has slight free play detected at steering wheel (2.3 (a) (i))".

According to the main dealer where it was serviced, all PHEV's have this, it was still safe and it would be the same if they changed the steering rack!

Quite how a three year old, main dealer serviced, vehicle can acceptably have advisories on its first MOT is hard to believe.

Anyone else experienced this?

Mileage?
 
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