Legislation that could ban our sport/modifications

[Sevv]

that legislation pretty much proposes what we have in australia, the ban of strocked engines , modifed gearboxes, exhausts, height of the car no more then 30mm with 4 people in it all that none sense, even cone filter and FMIC , big brake kits and uprated suspension are all "banned", along with gauges... UNLESS you " pay" 400 pounds per mod as a certification called "blue Slip" here in NSW and have it tested on a track ONLY THEN will it classified as "legally " in the terms of our legalized mafia called gouvernment.

clear fact is that everyone still mods there cars but sleepers are very common from the outside all the way to the engine bay so... Cars like Tuffty's would pass flawless and the police wouldnt be able to detect anything....

yes i know Australia is amazing aint it.

 

[warren_S5]

that legislation pretty much proposes what we have in australia, the ban of strocked engines , modifed gearboxes, exhausts, height of the car no more then 30mm with 4 people in it all that none sense, even cone filter and FMIC , big brake kits and uprated suspension are all "banned", along with gauges... UNLESS you " pay" 400 pounds per mod as a certification called "blue Slip" here in NSW and have it tested on a track ONLY THEN will it classified as "legally " in the terms of our legalized mafia called gouvernment.

clear fact is that everyone still mods there cars but sleepers are very common from the outside all the way to the engine bay so... Cars like Tuffty's would pass flawless and the police wouldnt be able to detect anything....

yes i know Australia is amazing aint it.

That sucks....

But then when I balance that off against all the hours of 'Home & Away' I've had to endure when my wife gets her hands on the ****** remote control then it could be called justice!

If I could have my car modified in one hit and then pay for an inspection on all mods to get a slip (a one off cost), then I could just about stomach it, but a gratuity payment per modification is another liberty too far. I don't think there is a softer target for tax than the motorist who gets bent over at every conceivable opportunity.

 

[Benjiman46]

those are all factory/dealer fit tuning packs....

i'm a fan of tuv approval standard for all critical parts that keep the car safe,

That was my point... It's still modifying a car after it's initial release

 

[MintyS3]

Its a £1,000,000,000 a year industry in the uk alone. They'd have to be fairly stupid to hurt that tax income for no reason.

 

[Prawn]

That was my point... It's still modifying a car after it's initial release

Perhaps, but it's in an approved manner, using type approved parts fitted by a company that has been deemed professionally competent to do so. A bit like carrying out surgery on your own child. Its illegal, but a doctor can do it in a hospital because he's been deemed competent to do so

 

[bigal 1]

A bit like carrying out surgery on your own child. I know what you mean. I did it and look where saving a few bob got me. should have gone to Specsavers.

 

[badger5]

Its a £1,000,000,000 a year industry in the uk alone. They'd have to be fairly stupid to hurt that tax income for no reason.

you've seen politicians at work have'nt you?

eak!!

 

[warren_S5]

you've seen politicians at work have'nt you?

eak!!

Bill you're flattering them, substitute the word 'work' for 'meddling' and I'll agree completely

 

[bigal 1]

There is an opinion shared by many people that assumes that because this industry employs thousands of people the government will not let it happen. Just go back a few years to the Fox Hunting ban. In some rural parts of Devon and Cornwall there were communities that relied upon the trade to live. (stables, kennels, catering, management to name just a few). Did the Government ( that **** Blair and his cronies) say NO we cant put all of these people out of work, look at the cost to the nation. Did they Hell. It is fortunate that it didn't work because some bright spark came up with alternatives and the industry survived. They towed stuffed animals and or just chased foxes and did not try to catch them. Not one bit of government help in fact they still tried to prosecute the people involved.

So in a nutshell, it is my opinion that if we think the government will block it on the grounds of mass unemployment, WE SHOULD THINK AGAIN.

 

[Colly]

I don't think they have thought it through very well it would near impossible to enforce what a modification is as how could classify patten parts etc

 

[badger5]

Bill you're flattering them, substitute the word 'work' for 'meddling' and I'll agree completely

indeed

I dont trust any of them to have common sense..

scarey thought is'nt it

it could happen...

 

[warren_S5]

indeed

I dont trust any of them to have common sense..

scarey thought is'nt it

it could happen...

Don't even like to think about it.

I've been modifying cars for 22 years now. Knocking on the door of 40 and I'm still enjoying it.

In my youth I drove old cars, and when something packed up (e.g. brakes), I'd upgrade the disks, pads and lines which actually (in the case of Mk1 Golf) made it better not worse! When the clutch went I put an upgraded Sachs one in it and again it presented no danger to anyone. Eventually when the engine gave way an Audi 80 engine was retrofitted as it was all I could afford at the time (a 112PS 1.8E version), and still nobody was at any risk as the work was done by a decent indy.

Today I can just about afford a Cayman S / RS3, but what I'd need to give up to make that sacrifice is not worth the ongoing overhead. By buying an S3 for £30k, and saving about £18k, I can do a few carefully chosen mods as and when I'm ready, to bring the S3 closer in performance to the other 2 cars I'd rather have bought. And I still have a big wadge of cash left at the end of it. Also I can work on dialling out some of the cars less focussed tendencies which are put in place at factory to suit the masses. I enjoy the process of modifying /going to club meets / going round to see indy VAG folk to just have a chat about cars etc., so it affects more than just the 'parts'.

I'm all for getting unsafe cars off the road, but every day I see bucketloads of drivers on phones, or in cars with next to bald tyres and no action seems to get taken about that which is arguably a more serious issue. Over a million uninsured drivers on British roads; why not deal with that instead? We've got kids under the required age range to have their details published in the press nicking cars every week of the year, and they choose to pick upon a largely peaceful and responsible community who arguably have cars that are kept in a much better state of condition than Joe Average and his 7 seater bus.

Problem with a bunch of old Etonians making all the rules, they only have their view of the world.

 

[badger5]

uninsured drivers eh... meh... like 1.6 a3's with 1.8t's in them... lol

 

[bigal 1]

uninsured drivers eh... meh... like 1.6 a3's with 1.8t's in them... lol

Very good point there Bill

 

[Martin82]

So at the moment (in the UK) we are:

Paying a stupid amount of money for fuel
Paying a stupid amount for insurance due to cover not only ourselves but those people who make false claims, not driving with insurance etc
Paying for road tax every year which doesn't actually get spent on roads and is sent probably to Brussels for them to come up with this crap.

AND NOW! they want to remove the one thing which makes our motoring lives slightly pleasant and gives us a bit of pleasure, whilst also keeping us the way nature intended.......locked away in our garages!......."head in hands"

 

[Sam_]

One of those amazing decisions ****** up at the European Union, probably in a bored afternoon after one of the delegates had either been smoked by a modified car on a trip into Strasbourg.

Busy bodies making literally unenforceable rules.

1. How do they intend to police it
2. How do they determine what is a factory spec mod and what is aftermarket
3. If they impound / tow away all modified cars, where will they store them all
4. How can they determine that a panel filter from say ITG is worse / better / classifiable as a modification say in comparison to OEM
5. What is their pure definition of modification? Can you add seat covers, air fresheners, deviate from manufacturer specced tyres; it basically means all aftermarket products (e.g. G&S supplied EBC brake pads would be modifications...)

Either the head of Ford has become an EU delegate and wants to keep servicing in house, or the EU were having a very bad day at the office (I guess that's what happens when you get a load of disconnected overpaid suits together with no real world view). Politicians meddling into the personal freedoms of those with hobbies rather than dealing with real world issues.

I might be able to shed a bit of light on it, based on what happens here. This is only what I've gathered in the last few years of living here:

1. If it's anything like Australia then they have a much more basic equivalent of an MOT every year called a "pink slip". It's really just lights, a brake test and a few other minor items from what I can gather from my visits. However, if you are pulled over, the police smell something fishy (you'd have to be a ****, or they're having a bad day I'd imagine) and your car is "defected" you may need to go and get the car inspected by the VOSA equivalent. In which case your modifications would come under scrutiny.
2. The inspectors have detailed photos and specs of an OEM car and will question anything out of the ordinary. My friend had a modified Skyline GTR and has run into all sorts of issues (they seem to hate the horribly modified japanese cars! Rightfully so).
3. What they do here is basically make you car unroadworthy and it's your responsibility to get it retested and back on the road.
4. Anything non OEM here is considered a grey area.
5. I believe here, it's anything mechanical but then sometimes bodywork can also come under scrutiny.

It's true though. Having lived in the UK for most of my life, I realised after leaving that modifying cars there is much easier than elsewhere. MOTs are more stringent though, that's for sure. The "pink slip" here, takes around 5 mins max.

Over here you can have a modified car but modifications are supposed to be "engineered" which means a certified inspector can "ok" the modifications and produce a certificate to say they are roadworthy. The engineers have cottoned onto this though and it's often $1000+ to get something engineered, meaning most people drive around with un-engineered modifications.

 

[superkarl]

Over here you can have a modified car but modifications are supposed to be "engineered" which means a certified inspector can "ok" the modifications and produce a certificate to say they are roadworthy. The engineers have cottoned onto this though and it's often $1000+ to get something engineered, meaning most people drive around with un-engineered modifications.

i was going to say that any product in the market should go through this before its legal to be sold. much like TUV, but then thats when cost of parts and said mods go sky high. And also when only the bigger companies can meet that requirement.
i think its a good idea though, regardless of the implicated costs. as people have said, the junk people fit and do to their cars is crazy, and unsafe, like random brand brake pads on ebay for £2.50. that **** is soooo wrong

 

[rhys1210]

heres the link to the legisitaion http://ec.europa.eu/transport/doc/roadworthiness-package/com%282012%29380.pdf

The only thing i can find about modifications is, page 16.


Notwithstanding the date of its last roadworthiness test, the competent authority may
require that a vehicle be subject to a roadworthiness test or additional testing before the date referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2, in the following cases:

– when the safety and environmental systems and components of the vehicle
have been altered or modified,

So not really much different to the current MOT which checks for roadworthiness.
The only thing it seems they might want to do is when your car is modified is that its check thats its still safe.

Im all for having to get cars checked that mods have been done safely, it could save lives. But then how much are they going to charge for this? who knows?

 

[bigal 1]

It looks as if this scaremongering was a bit premature. Its not going to happen in the near future and not without consultation by all EU members. It looks as if it might go TUV style for all after market parts which would not be a bad thing at all considering some of the rubbish on Ebay.