Hi,

Have a 21 Octy estate, winter makes the front assist not working bong come on, I'm taking for MOT next week, is it a failure item?

It's intermittent but much worse in cold weather, blooming annoying!

Thanks

make sure the radar sensor and windscreen are clean

I don't think that Front Assist is a mandatory test item (unlike ABS, lights out or EPC indicators) - although the test technician may incorrectly take the position that any fault indication is a fail.

Edited 9 January9 Jan by Warrior193
clarification

Thanks.

If there is any warning light on dash the chances are it will fail I am afraid especially if its part of a safety system. Have you had car scanned to see if there are any fault codes stored? It may be possible to disable it for the MOT? I read on a VW forum/Golf it can be disabled by going into Car/vehicle setting/setup and toggling the front assist to off although it may reactivate once car is stopped and restarted. Not sure on Skoda

Alasdair

MOT manual is publicly available here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles

If anyone can find a clause anywhere in that which says "any warning light is a reason for failure", please share it.

A lot of nonsense gets repeated online about such things, along with the old chestnut "if it's fitted it must work". This is also not true.

If that manual doesn't mention something specifically, then that thing is not part of the test, and therefore cannot be a reason for failure.

If you look at MOT fails, they are always listed against the specific (sub)clause in that test manual linked.

Lots of cars of various makes have had the front radar sensor stolen, and they can still pass the MoT. Seems to be a particular problem with VW Golfs, and it costs £1000s to replace, so some people don't bother (particularly if they park in an area where such theft is prevalent).

I've cleaned sensor to no avail. I'll pull the radar sensor and see if there's anything obvious and put an OBD scanner on it.

I've looked through the MOT online and can't see anything it would fail on however I'm selling it soon so need to clear the message if I can.

Thanks all

4 minutes ago, dazzaT4 said:

I've cleaned sensor to no avail. I'll pull the radar sensor and see if there's anything obvious and put an OBD scanner on it.

I've looked through the MOT online and can't see anything it would fail on however I'm selling it soon so need to clear the message if I can.

Thanks all

The ADAS radar will almost certainly require fairly expensive alignment process if the sensor is disturbed in any way.

I've scanned the car (Ancel BM700) but no fault codes.

Display says actually says "sensor impaired" so presume its got something over the radar. I'll look at checking it when it stops raining!

Looks like the bumper has to come off, handy!

The error was intermittent but has been getting more frequent and now bongs every time, is it likely to be the radar broken or need calibration? Any way to check?

Try gently pressing the sensor in all directions to check if there is any movement, and visually check if it looks in any way out of alignment.

The mounts appear to be easily damaged in a parking 'nudge' without displaying any obvious damage to grille or bumper.

Do I need to remove the bumper to get to the sensor? I presume the plastic cover is just that, a plastic cover?

Thanks 👍

Not sure with the Mk4, but I believe I have seen a reference to removing the trim cover to access it - simpler on the Mk3 as the sensor is exposed.

The phantom front assist issues is about the only thing that really annoys me about my car. Okay they aren’t exactly phantom but a massive unnecessary overreaction.

Can confirm it's NOT an MOT fail, car passed today with no advisories and still with front assist sensor impaired message. 😁

Taking it tomorrow to an ADAS specialist to get sensor looked at, then it's for sale!

And now it's fixed. Took it to ADAS Calibration Services https://share.google/BY72y2GnDxnuKK9vn in Bury St Edmunds who managed to get the radar cover off, clear all the spider web etc and then used an Autel to recalibrate and reset. Very happy 😁