Rear passenger door and MOT

[Tartan Tiger]

I have a 5 door car and one of the rear passenger doors won't open. The car is booked in for an MOT tomorrow - will it fail if the door doesn't open?

[JimmyK]

Definitely yes, passengers need to be able to get out of the car in the event of an accident! And yes there are other doors, but if there is an obstacle (an injured passenger, a load of junk... if your car is like a shed the same as mine... etc) the consequences could be disastrous.

I once took a car for an MOT and it did not have a front passeneger seat in it, and I had removed the seat belt (after welding or something): it failed because there was no seatbelt even tho there was no seat, because the absent belt could not be tested.

good luck!

[Tartan Tiger]

Thanks JimmyK.

I'll need to reschedule the MOT!

[kjn2]

Sorry but can you clarify that the door does not open from the outside hope I am not being stupid but the kiddies lock is not on is it?

[Tartan Tiger]

No, it's not the child lock - it doesn't open from the outside or inside. It's a mk4 VW golf with central locking but the central locking has stopped opening that one door. From the inside if I try to open the door the little wiget (which you push down to lock the door) rises as I pull back the handle but falls again when I release the handle. I think it's just stuck - any other suggestions welcome. Thanks.

[Toureman]

no.

[JimmyK]

The widget has obviously got disconnected from the mechanism inside (if I correctly read you there, you lift it, it does nothing, and just falls back).

I guess by now you may have had the panel off the inside of the door, there are probably some linkages broken or disconnected. I have never had central locking but maybe instead of/as well as any linkages you can see there may be some cables that operate levers etc.

You can also try getting your ear against the door to see if there is any kind of clunking noise inside that door, to check if the solenoid is operating, but I would guess that a failure in that would not prevent the mechanical method working.

There is always the ubiquitous Haynes manual or trusted friends with spanners etc. Good luck if you havent already got it fixed.