The computer says no ... But only sometimes

Mrs Beag had an interesting experience with the NCT test recently. The car failed first time around, apparently as the hand brake was not working! This naturally was a surprise as you would imagine you would notice something like that in your daily driving. She brought it to the local mechanic who could find nothing wrong with it so he brought it to another NCT center to get it reviewed and they also said it was fine. So she brought it back for the retest having had absolutely nothing done to it and lo and behold it passed! She of course questioned how this could happen and was told it's all down to what the computer says!
Maybe the computer was just having a bad day. Maybe it felt like generating a bit more income.
But the next time the computer says no it might be worth having a nice word with it and asking if it's sure and would it mind checking again!

Ceist Beag said:

This naturally was a surprise as you would imagine you would notice something like that in your daily driving.

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It's not a binary working / not working situation. The test measures the resistance on each wheel while the handbrake is applied, the resistance offered by each wheel must exceed a minimum and they must be withing a balance threshold as well. Old school handbrakes had manual adjustment at the lever to adjust the force and compensate for the cable stretching over time.

Leo said:

The test measures the resistance on each wheel while the handbrake is applied, the resistance offered by each wheel must exceed a minimum and they must be withing a balance threshold as well.

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Fair enough Leo. Any idea how it could subsequently pass the very same test when absolutely nothing was done to the car between tests?

Ceist Beag said:

Fair enough Leo. Any idea how it could subsequently pass the very same test when absolutely nothing was done to the car between tests?

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Rust or wear of the contact points or mechanism could lead to inconsistent behaviour.

Leo said:

Rust or wear of the contact points or mechanism could lead to inconsistent behaviour.

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Quite possibly. It would be nice if the "computer" could provide this level of detail or failing that the person conducting the test. Instead she simply got a form saying it failed, without any readings provided in the form and then had our mechanic (and other mechanics in another NCT center) scratching their heads at what exactly the failure was.

There were big delays getting NCT's done. They are now running some of their centres 24 hours a day. Problem solved. Private sector efficiency.

Purple said:

There were big delays getting NCT's done. They are now running some of their centres 24 hours a day. Problem solved. Private sector efficiency.

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If it was that efficient it wouldn’t have waited until it reached the crisis it did.

Ceist Beag said:

and was told it's all down to what the computer says!

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I speculate that the powers to be want to make people think about replacing older cars. Put a bit of hardship on people and they might consider replacing their old Internal Combustion Engine car with an electric or newer ICE car. So it is probably accurate to blame the computer, in a roundabout way.

RichInSpirit said:

I speculate that the powers to be want to make people think about replacing older cars. Put a bit of hardship on people and they might consider replacing their old Internal Combustion Engine car with an electric or newer ICE car. So it is probably accurate to blame the computer, in a roundabout way.

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That implies they are capable of coming up with "a cunning plan". !!

Having said that, they have said that 3000 cards that failed a test last year were never retested. That doesn't mean they were scrapped though, quite possible a lot of them are still on the road and the driver is just taking a chance

Occasionally I end up driving behind some van or car that is burning oil and clouds of black smoke are billowing out of the back of it. Then I remember the absolute junkers that were on the road before the NCT and I'm thankful for it.

Yeah I'm not for a minute suggesting the NCT tests are not a good thing. However, it's pretty grim when the mechanics performing the tests cannot explain why a test failed or why it suddenly then passed. What exactly is their training and qualifications for if they are only there to read a digital report! The Little Britain sketch was way ahead of it's time.

Ceist Beag said:

Yeah I'm not for a minute suggesting the NCT tests are not a good thing. However, it's pretty grim when the mechanics performing the tests cannot explain why a test failed or why it suddenly then passed. What exactly is their training and qualifications for if they are only there to read a digital report! The Little Britain sketch was way ahead of it's time.

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A load of the new ones are from The Philippines so they may not have the best English.