Vol. 553 No. 6
234 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Transport if the NCT can insist on the fitting of a third seat belt in the back seat where a car has not been designed to have this; and if there is provision for extending the 28 day time limit to facilitate the sourcing and fitting of a suitable belt before the requirement of a re-test would be triggered. [14852/02]
Checking that the appropriate seatbelts are present in a car is an integral part of the NCT. The number of seatbelts is required to match the seating accommodation of the car as stated on the vehicle registration document and the National Car Testing Service has no discretion to determine otherwise.
It is the practice of the company in such cases to advise the car owner to contact the distributor of the vehicle in question so that the problem can be resolved.
The regulations governing the operation of the national car test prescribe that a re-test must be carried out on a day, which is not more than four weeks or 28 days from the day on which the test certificate was refused. A re-test which does not require the use of a test lane will be conducted free of charge within this period. Outside of this, a full test must be carried out and the standard test fee is chargeable.
