Do the airbags need replacing on my 14-year-old Audi as an MOT requirement?

I gave my faithful Audi A4 Avant SE to my daughter earlier this year after buying myself a Toyota Verso. The Audi is a 1998 model and the handbook says that the airbags have to be replaced after 14 years. This is clearly not economical on a car of this age. Will the new MOT check the function of the airbags without requiring them to be renewed?
It may go no further than checking the warning lights, as it does for the ABS. I doubt it will dig deeper and actually interrogate the ECU via the OBDII diagnostics port. We really will have to wait and see, because this could potentially put more older cars off the road than the scrappage scheme did.
Answered by Honest John on

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