Wobbly swivel seat is MOT failure

[syncropatrick]

Hi,

Van has failed MOT due to a wobbly passenger swivel seat.

It's a VW swivel seat. I took it apart this morning, cleaned, re-greased and re-assembled. The seat is held firmly to the swivel top by the rail mechanism and the swivel base is firmly welded to the seat box. There is a small wobble, which is rotating movement from the swivel mechanism itself. I put this down to wear and don't thinks it's a problem. Apart from helping my MOT tester see sense is there anything else that can be done?

cheers
Patrick.

[Cafnod]

If a seat mounting is regarded as dangerous in the opinion of the vehicle examiner then it is grounds for the refusal of a certificate. Wear may require replacement parts. Without seeing it I could not say. Many swivel seats have a bush where the ste of the seat swivel goes into the base, has this worn allowing wobble? If so then the bush can be easily removed and a new one made, about fifteen minutes work on a lathe. Most small engineering works charge about £15 for half an hour, bush would be about a tenner.
Or you can appeal. Probably easier to get the bush done. It could be you had a bad teste, ask to see the testing station manager or go to a different station. I often used to take vehicles to the ministry goods vehicle and plating station, firm but completely fair and reasonable.

[CovKid]

Not wise to appeal as they may well find far more wrong than in the test. Borrow and fit a regular seat for the test then sort the failed one afterwards.

[1664]

Why not just tighten the four locking nuts on the circular plate right the way up? The seat won't swivel but it won't wobble either and you can slacken them off a tad after the test.

[Ian Hulley]

Why not just tighten the four locking nuts on the circular plate right the way up? The seat won't swivel but it won't wobble either and you can slacken them off a tad after the test.

Like Bren say's

[jamesc76]

or take the seat out if it aint there it cant fail!!

[syncropatrick]

Thanks chaps. I tried tightening the 4 nuts up really tight and it still wobbles a bit. Any tighter and I risk breaking something. I've got an identical swivel base not yet fitted so I'll see if that suffers wobble as well. If it's OK I'll fit it and get the duff one sorted offline.
cheers
Patrick.

[Red Westie]

Despite the requirement for an MOT tester to follow guidelines closely (MOT testers manual) their is still a great deal of variation in the interpretation of those guidelines 'OPINION'
Inexperienced testers will often take guide lines literally and without excersising any degree of flexibility, the more experienced will understand what is safe and what is not. for example: failing seatbelts for slight furing of the fabric or a partially blocked washer jet (been there seen that, got the tee shirt)
This guy probably doesn't even realise that this is a swivel seat.
Having been an MOT tester myself for over 6 years, it really does annoy me as we were taught 'when in doubt, always give the customer the benefit and back it up by making sure that any borderline items were properly reported on the form to cover yourself.
Martin

[fullsunian]

or take the seat out if it aint there it cant fail!!

Correct, if its not there you cant test it. What I would do...

[Cruz]

Thanks chaps. I tried tightening the 4 nuts up really tight and it still wobbles a bit. Any tighter and I risk breaking something. I've got an identical swivel base not yet fitted so I'll see if that suffers wobble as well. If it's OK I'll fit it and get the duff one sorted offline.
cheers
Patrick.

Is it a genuine VW swivel? If so there are 8 glide pieces inside the swivel base to keep the base level and to aid swivelling.



If you remove the 4 bolts and then split the swivel base into it's three parts you will see the glide pieces. The uppers (20a) are still available from vw classic parts 251-881-319

however the lowers (20b) 251-881-320 are not available from anywhere unless someone has a spare but you could improvise and make some up using a bit of angled plastic

[Aidan]

Patrick there are 8 little nylon bushes in the sandwich, yours may be missing, I have four new 320

[syncropatrick]

Thank you Cruz and Aidan. All these 8 bits missing. I'll acquire the parts. Aidan PM sent.
cheers
Patrick.

[lloyd]

Or just put some spacers under it and tighten up the nuts for the re-test.
Take them back out after it passes.

[asahartz]

Despite the requirement for an MOT tester to follow guidelines closely (MOT testers manual) their is still a great deal of variation in the interpretation of those guidelines 'OPINION'
Inexperienced testers will often take guide lines literally and without excersising any degree of flexibility, the more experienced will understand what is safe and what is not. for example: failing seatbelts for slight furing of the fabric or a partially blocked washer jet (been there seen that, got the tee shirt)
This guy probably doesn't even realise that this is a swivel seat.
Having been an MOT tester myself for over 6 years, it really does annoy me as we were taught 'when in doubt, always give the customer the benefit and back it up by making sure that any borderline items were properly reported on the form to cover yourself.
Martin

Most likely the issue, I'd agree. My swivel seat wobbles, but it's passed two MOTs at my local test centre where they are always fair.

MOTs throw up lots of issues with older vehicles like ours (my other cars are classic Minis). I always advise using a MOT-only centre as they have no interest in doing unnecessary work.

[syncropatrick]

If you remove the 4 bolts and then split the swivel base into it's three parts you will see the glide pieces. The uppers (20a) are still available from vw classic parts 251-881-319

however the lowers (20b) 251-881-320 are not available from anywhere unless someone has a spare but you could improvise and make some up using a bit of angled plastic

20a coming from Classic Parts at 77 cents each. 20b coming from Aidan. In the meantime bunged it up with foam insulation to stop it moving.
Ta all.
Patrick.