Only 2 brake lights working

Shurwhynot

Can i do the test if only 2 of the 3 brake lights are working? Only realised it last night when i had my final lesson before my test, which is tomorrow morning.

My instructor told me that they will accept the car if only 2 of the 3 are working but would the tester immediately put you in their bad books if they see i only have the 2?

Also is there anywhere that i can find a list of questions that they ask in relation to what to do if your brake light/oil light etc comes on whilst driving, and the checks to do on your tyres

Thanks guys

seamus

When you say 2 of the three, do you mean that you have an additional brake light in your rear window?

You absolutely must have the two brake lights on the rear of your vehicle (either side) working. If the light in the window is broken you might get away with it (i.e. he might not spot it) and depending on the tester he may or may not refuse to go out in a vehicle where a light is broken.

If either of the two brake lights on either side of the boot are broken, the tester will not conduct the test. They're easily fixed, you can pick up a replacement bulb in Halfords or wherever today and get it sorted.

As for the technical checks, you can google that easily enough. If your oil light comes on, check your oil. If the brake fault light comes on, you stop your vehicle and get it towed to a garage. You check your tyres to ensure that there are no cracks in them, no bulges in them and that the tread is at the minimum depth for a car (google it, not sure what it is at the moment, think it's 3mm).

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

seamus

donegalfella wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Indeed

Shurwhynot

Yes i have an extra brake light on my rear window. That one works but the other two didn't yesterday evening so i bought bulbs and fitted them, turns out one of them was bust! I'll try get another one later but the instructor told me that as long as i had any 2 working then the car would be taken.

seamus

Shurwhynot wrote: »

but the instructor told me that as long as i had any 2 working then the car would be taken.

Pinch of salt with that one. I can't find any legislation to back up his assertion that 2 out of 3 is OK. You are legally required to have two stop lamps positioned on the rear of the vehicle, of a similar size and intensity and situated at a similar height. Having a center stop light and one side stop light does not satisfy this requirement.

A rule of thumb is that if your car will not pass the NCT, then the driving tester will not take you out in it. I know that's not strictly true, but you can take it for granted that if your car is up to NCT standard, then you have zero to worry about.

You will fail the NCT if one of the 3 lights is not working.

Danbo!

The 3rd brake light can go either way on the NCT depending on the tester. Some say that because it is present it must work, others say there are only 2 required by law then it is ok, or as long as 50% or more of the LEDs are working, you are ok.

Is it a strip of LEDs? If it is and they are all gone it is probably a fuse so thats handy enough to fix. AFAIK, the brake lights are on different fuses so they dont all fail at once, but I could be mistaking this for headlights

Alanstrainor

I always thought it was any 2 brake lights, and not specifically the left and right brake lights. I remember reading numerous posts regarding it here before.

seamus

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I always thought it was any 2 brake lights, and not specifically the left and right brake lights. I remember reading numerous posts regarding it here before.

Well I'm open to correction here, but the legislation is as follows:
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1963/en/si/0189.html#zzsi189y1963a13

13. (1) Stop lamps, in the case of a vehicle to which this Part of these Regulations applies, shall consist of two lamps fitted to the vehicle and shall comply with the provisions of this article.

(3) (a) The lamps shall be as nearly as possible of the same power.


(4) The lamps shall have as nearly as possible the same appearance when lit.


(5) The lamps shall have as nearly as possible the same illuminated area.


(6) The lamps shall be fitted as nearly as possible at the same height, and no part of the illuminated surfaces of the lamps shall be less than 12 inches or more than 4 feet from the ground.

There may be a change later on, but I couldn't find one. Later legislation does allow you to have a third high light on the vehicle, and specifies the rules in relation to that. However, the above regulations still apply in terms of the two main stop lights - i.e. it specifically mentions the high light as an additional stop lamp to the normal two.

Alanstrainor

seamus wrote: »

Well I'm open to correction here, but the legislation is as follows:
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1963/en/si/0189.html#zzsi189y1963a13

There may be a change later on, but I couldn't find one. Later legislation does allow you to have a third high light on the vehicle, and specifies the rules in relation to that. However, the above regulations still apply in terms of the two main stop lights - i.e. it specifically mentions the high light as an additional stop lamp to the normal two.

Very good. Thanks for clearing that up!

seamus

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Very good. Thanks for clearing that up!

There might be some confustion because the new ROTR doesn't cover the specifics, it simply says that your vehicle must have two rear brake lights.