Airbag light goes out, but takes longer than expected

I would agree pass and advise

Go back to them, one last time, and ask them for a Notice of Appeal (form) Road Traffic Act 1988 Section 45.

Thanks again for the clear guidance.

The last day I can get the car retested is this Friday. Once I've calmed down, I will ask them to retest it properly. If they refuse, I will ensure they give me an official notice in writing. If they fail it on the funny light behaviour, I will also have a written basis for appeal. Either way, I won't accept them refusing to do their job.

Car is a 1996 Audi 80, by the way. I discussed this issue with my local Audi specialist some months ago, and they had a good look at it. There are no fault codes generated, and they could not find anything wrong. They agreed it took longer than usual to go out, but as it does go out they didn't think anything further needed to be done. Funnily enough, they are also an MOT testing station. I guess I know where I should have taken it...

Hi ivor,

They've offered to test the emissions for no charge, so that's fine. I've booked it in again for Friday, and I'll be leaving with an emissions printout and one of the following:

1. A VT30 refusal to test certificate (with a clearly stated reason for refusal)
2. An MOT failure notice
3. A valid MOT

Even if the light taking an unusual length of time to go out was a reason for failure (which it isn't as you know) it certainly isn't a reason for refusal to test. Take it back, make sure you get a failure ticket and ask them for an appeal form.

Maybe he's a little confused with the "not functioning correctly " from something else as you have said. As has been said best bet is to just go for the retest & if you get another fail on the srs indicating a malfunction don't argue just ask for an appeal form

Don't think we should encourage presenters to remove bulbs,

Well, I took my car back for it's retest today, and they'd decided that the airbag light wasn't a big deal after all. The excuse did change, because now they're saying it didn't go out at all the other day, whereas today it was much better. I know for a fact that the airbag light hasn't changed it's behaviour once in the 10 months I've owned the car, so I basically don't believe this new "reason".

I did find out the reason for the light taking it's time to go out. At some point in the past, the battery has gone dead and it's been jump-started. This has led to a "low voltage" error message being flagged up by the airbag ecu. The light stays on for a minute to let me know about this historical event rather than indicate a current fault with the system. It would be best to get that fault cleared.

Anyway, all's well that ends well.

No, not really. It failed on emissions again  High CO, with everything else within normal ranges. Looks like I need a new cat. Since I already have the rustiest non-blowing back box in the world, I think now is the time to invest in some new exhaust components...

Regarding the emissions flingstam might I ask after the High CO% value, the reading on the printout?