Will A Car Fail An MOT With Its Airbag Light On?

Lights on your dashboard can mean a number of things – many of them not good! But will your airbag light result in an MOT fail?

Will A Faulty Airbag Fail An MOT?

The all-important question – regardless of the light being on or off, will your car fail its MOT test if there’s any kind of fault with the airbag?

The answer, unfortunately, is yes. Airbags are critical to the safety of the car’s driver and passengers, and since the MOT test is all about checking your vehicle is safe, it should come as no surprise a dodgy airbag will result in a fail.

Will An Airbag Light Fail An MOT?

Yes, if the airbag light on your car’s dashboard is illuminated, the vehicle will immediately fail its MOT test. This is because the light being on indicates a serious problem and, since airbags are so important to safety, the test will not be able to continue until that problem is fixed.

Other dashboard lights can result in an MOT fail, too – the dreaded engine light is one of them!

Can You Drive With Airbag Failure?

Legally, yes. You can drive with an airbag that doesn’t work, or with the airbag light on indicating a problem. However, it’s not recommended for a couple of reasons:

First of all, airbags are an absolute lifesaver… literally. If you have an accident and you don’t have working airbags, it’s much, much more likely that you or your passengers will be severely injured or killed.

Secondly, working airbags are often a requirement of your car insurance policy. If your insurer finds out that you’re driving without working airbags – or worse, you try to claim after a crash where they weren’t working – then they will most likely tell you that you’re on your own! Driving with no airbags can invalidate your insurance policy.

No insurance policy often means your car will end up being scrapped!

What Does The Airbag Light Mean?

The SRS MIL, to give it its technical name (Supplementary Restraint Systems Malfunction Indicator Light) is used to show that something is wrong with your airbag system. If the light is indicating a fault, the car will need fixing to be completely safe and to pass its MOT test.

It’s worth noting that the MIL is not the same as the light that indicates a passenger airbag being manually turned off. If your passenger airbags have been deactivated when it’s taken in for an MOT, it should result in a fail based on this alone.

Why Your Airbag Light May Have Come On

Your airbag light might come on for a few different reasons. Not all of them are genuine problems with the airbags themselves, and in fact sometime the light may come on for no good reason at all.

Here’s what can cause that little light to pop up on your dashboard:

• Damaged wiring – Faulty or damaged wiring, usually found underneath the seats in your car, can cause the light to come on. This can make you think there’s a problem with your airbag when actually there isn’t.
• Worn clock spring – The clock spring is what keeps your steering wheel connected to the electrical systems – including the airbag – when it turns. If this is worn out, it could mean the airbag won’t operate properly.
• Minor accidents – A crash that’s not quite severe enough to trigger the airbag’s explosion could still throw its electronics out of sync. This will cause the light to come on, which will need resetting.
• Sensor problems – Airbag sensors could be experiencing problems somewhere in your car which have tricked the vehicle into thinking the airbags are faulty.
• Incorrect installation – Such a technical piece of equipment will need to be fitted by someone who knows what they’re doing. Even then, there’s a chance that an airbag could be installed wrong. On some occasions, this could result in the light coming on.

Can You Fix A Faulty Airbag?

If your airbag light has come on, you’ll need to take your car to a garage to have it properly diagnosed. Like with most – if not all – car problems, it is fixable in the right hands.

Any of the problems listed above should be fairly simple for a trained technician to put right, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be cheap! A reinstallation of a poorly-fitted airbag could set you back hundreds of pounds.

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Can You Fix A Deployed Airbag?

Airbags that have deployed in a crash aren’t technically broken, even though they might look like it. The mess you’ll find your car in after an accident is totally normal; airbags are designed to deflate almost as fast as they inflate to allow you to exit the car.

Getting the car back to normal, with airbags that are ready to go again, isn’t too simple. It’s not just a case of tucking the bag back under its cover. In fact, these things are single-use! If an airbag has deployed in your car, you will have to get it replaced, rather than refitted.

Will My Car Insurance Replace My Deployed Airbags?

Yes. Most insurance policies will cover airbags as a standard part of the car, so when yours deploy after a crash, your insurer will pay to replace them. Of course, this won’t happen if your car is written off!

It also won’t happen if you’ve invalidated your insurance by driving around knowingly with dodgy airbags, as we’ve covered here.

Airbag MOT FAQs

How much does it cost to fix an airbag?

Getting your airbag repaired so your car passes its MOT could set you back around £200. That’s an average based on the variety of problems your airbag might actually need fixing. If you need an airbag replaced, you could pay £700 or more.

Can you still drive a car with a blown/deployed airbag?

Not only is this incredibly reckless, it’s also going to invalidate your insurance policy. In fact, if it interferes with your ability to operate the car – which, let’s be honest, it will – then it will also be considered illegal.

Can you turn off the airbag light yourself?

There are ways to do this, but that doesn’t mean you should. In fact, you really shouldn’t! Sometimes it’s as simple as turning off the car, then turning it back on again. But, in other cases, you’ll need a diagnostic kit to plug into the car and clear the error.

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Or, visit our MOT failure hub for guides on everything related to MOT, and how to navigate your options after a fail.