Converting speedo for UK use.

[Bob]

I have recieved this email from Oliver who has been unable to register on the forums (cause being looked into) to post but is able to view.

Bob Isaac
Forum Admin

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A problem I've been having getting my LHD Volvo 850 TDI estate - 1996 model ready for registration in the UK. It is an EU CoC spec. which I bought while living in Belgium. I have no problem with the headlamps and rear fog light issues, but do with ensuring MPH display on the speedometer. There are issues with converting a metric speedometer to imperial MPH. Ideally, a smaller ring displaying MPH would be best: just as UK spec. cars show an inner ring KPH display. The problem with that is whether such a modification would be visible at night.


I have been told by the European Commission, to whom I had complained that the latter measure was an obstacle to free movement, that adhesives markings are available.


May I be so prudent as to ask your opinion on this matter? Does the Volvo Owners' club know of such accessories for making good LHD Volvos to conform to these UK specifications? Or, would I have to have the entire speedometer unit replaced? If the latter is the case, then the requirement, allowed under directives 75/443/EEC and later by 97/39/EC provided that such measures are proportional to health and safety, is actually not 'proportionate' under the said EU legislation.


I would be most grateful for your reaction and perhaps a contact to a
supplier of such and any accessories.


Many thanks in advance


Oliver Deane
(Projects coordinator)
LABYRINTH NETWORKING SOLUTIONS © 2002

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I doubt very, very much that there are stickers that you can buy to stick mph markings on your kph speedometre. However, this procedure is very simple. I did it on a 740 but I suspect very much it is more or less the same on an 850. Go to a scrapper like Braydon in London and buy a speedometre for your car, making sure that it comes from a TDI so that the speedometre is calibrated the same, i.e. if your top speed marked 200 mph, then so should that of the speedometre be. Go home, using Haynes remove and disassemble your own instrument cluster so you can get to the speedometre itself. Remove needle and you can then quite easily replace the face of the speedometre with that of the one you bought at the srapper. This should not cost you much and not take long.

As to the legal issue, I agree with you that it is not proportionate and therefore in breach of EU legislation, it does indeed restrict free movement of people and of goods. Trouble is, this is just as much a political matter and the UK government is not going to try to make the UK roads metric anytime soon, certainly not with the Ero referendum coming up and there is no political incentive to introduce dual speedometre in the rest of Europe. The whole thing is a Catch 22 if you ask me.

George

Anglo-Swede resident near Leuven in Belgium

'87 745 GLE Turbo Diesel Intercooler (D24TIC/M46, 200k)
'88 745 Turbo Intercooler (B230FT/M46, 270k)
'88 745 GL (B200E/M47, 200k)
'89 440 GL (B18K, 90k)

Thanks George

In fact, in a reply to Brandon, before I could overcome the technical problems of getting on this forum, I made some comments regarding these increasing tendencies of the UK Government to break EU law and challenge the treaties it has signed on free movement. I'm not saying that they're alone in this practice within the EU, but I'm focusing on them specifically.

Thanks for your advice. Although it now seems less expensive than I had erstwhile imagined, it still does seem like a lot of unnecessary palaver! Headlamps and rear fog lights effect other road users directly. These are tangible health and safety aspects and must be adhered to. Nonetheless, I fail to see how the speedometer can do so! Not unless it jumps out and smashes through another road user's wind screen of course! Do you think that this draconian and petty regulation was brought about by intense lobbying by UK auto concessionaires?

I have put in a petition with the European Parliament and when it is finally heard, I'll post the idiotic diatribe that the UK authorities, namely the VCA and DTI, in collusion with The European Commission have had the cheek to furnish me with. Obviously for your entertainment! Frankly though, I am disappointed with the impotence that The Commission has shown on this one.

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My reply to Brandon on the matter sent by email 31/1/2003

It (registration) has recently got a lot tougher and now you need to apply for a CoC 'mutual recognition' certificate at £62 before first registration can be accepted: I know, I tried to register my Volvo with the EC type CoC. In order to be issued one, receipts showing evidence of conversion need to be supplied. The problem is that stickers are not lit up via the back light for night driving: a specific requirement. Replacing the Speedo is not really viable or cost effective. In any case, the odometer calibration to reflect accurate and legal mileage would pose a problem there.

We all know our metric verses Imperial, at least those of us (who are educated), 40 and under (do)! It is indeed quite a 'nanny' type regulation. I personally don't see the need to change the Speedo: I'm quite happy with the one I've got and quite content with all things metric. The reality for this regulation, which was actually only enforced 2/3 years ago and this is why there are many people who have never needed to bother until now, is to discourage people from buying cars more cheaply on the Continent.
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Cheers!

Oliver

Appendum: Have you tried fathoming the Booklet P15, issued by the DoT/VCA 'How to Import a Vehice into GB'? It makes such fustrating reading that even if Franz Kafka had been alive today, he'd have written a whole novel based around it.

I see your point, you see no need for mph markings on speedometres at all. Well, I think many would disagree with you, even if I do not. I suspect the police for a start would have a problem as they would end up having no end of trouble convicting people with no mph markings for speeding. To save you the trouble from a practical point of view, you should have gone to Volvo Vermant in Mechelen to have your car converted before you took it to the UK.

George

Anglo-Swede resident near Leuven in Belgium

'87 745 GLE Turbo Diesel Intercooler (D24TIC/M46, 200k)
'88 745 Turbo Intercooler (B230FT/M46, 270k)
'88 745 GL (B200E/M47, 200k)
'89 440 GL (B18K, 90k)

That's how one of the arguments goes George, I know. But, I don't think it is a very cogent one in my opinion. There are many LHD cars on the roads in the UK that have no MPH markings at all. The regulation was only enforced recently. As for the speeding problem, the opposite is the case in many respects. 70 KPH is only about 40 MPH. So, to be speeding in a 30 MPH zone, you'd have to be doing more than 50 KPH! I'm sorry, but I don't accept this argument: it's just too convenient.

There has been no basis or statistical evidence which I know of that cars with KPH markings only are more prone to accidents and/or speeding. Thousands of drivers from the Continent use roads in the UK everyday. The only potential safety problem would be viewing oncoming traffic, especially for overtaking.

Commercial conversion is too costly and is not proportionate to the spurious reasons given by the UK authorities. I know of people who have taken their own car back to the UK and have never had such problems in the past, so I didn't suspect that I would, which is why I didn't look into conversion possibility in the first place.

All commercial vehicles in the UK as elsewhere in Europe (HGV, Public service etc..) have tachometers installed. They all show KPH markings ONLY on their speedometers. Are these drivers somehow more able to make mental judgment more prudently than the rest of us? I'm not saying that NEW cars should be exempt. Indeed if one buys a new car more cheaply on the Continent, then he/she can order one with UK specs anyway. My argument concerns second hand cars.

I compiled a list UK reg. nos. of LHD cars that have had no conversion done, but were registered in the UK nonetheless: some as recently as last year! How did they manage to get round this problem?

I am not against proportionate safety measures per se. I am against the use of quasi-legal labyrinthine obstacles primarily used to deter consumers making free choices however. For example, the requirement for Imperial Speedos is fraught with non-transparent Kafkaesque problems. The P15 booklet says that garage receipts must be supplied when applying for a mutual recognition certificate (in fact cost £62 and obligatory for LHD with EU CoC's) showing proof of conversion. This almost certainly, instantly eliminates a DIY job. Which means in realty, that the only option left is a commercial conversion followed by the SVA test, which is generically meant for vehicles imported from outside the EU, and costs considerably more to do. Very clever piece of work indeed!

I see you live near Leuven. I have my second residency in Brussels and travel frequently on business to Geel. I know Leuven quite well! I use to do some research work at the KUL.

Oliver