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State Auto inspections

B

Billy Shafer

Well-known Member
They are talking about doing away with the inspections in Texas again. Sure wish they would. They are one big joke and only a money grab for the state.A lot of shops down here will pass your auto if it can roll through the bay. Even know some DPS officers that agree they are a waste of time and money.
 
It is just a big joke! Here in NY if your car has a check engine light on the car cant pass, so you may have to spend big bucks to fix it. I think they can erase the code, so the light goes out and then it will pass. It just translates into the state fleecing the people. If you know the right people you have no problem getting it passed. I mean how many people really drive around in a car with no brakes, or some other unsafe problem?
 
Back when I lived in the Dallas area, I took my car in for an inspection on a Saturday. I had about 5 cars in front of me, but my car was inspected within 30 minutes.
The 16 year old kid doing the inspection would drive the car in, scrape off the old inspection sticker and stick the new one on. There was no inspection of any auto component and he wasn't even popping the hood open. Each car was taking no more than 5 minutes and I watched him do it through the window.
They made some quick money that day.
 
A lot of people would drive around with no brakes, blown headlights,no tailights, and bald tires,etc if inspection was not in force. I do agree that the emissions testing is bunch of hooey though. Up with safety inspections, down with emissions.
How do you like the way your NYS inspection receipt cogratulates you on your car passing inspection,like you won some sort of contest or something?
 
Well, I have mixed emotions about doing away with state safety inspections. When i see some of the rolling rats in Ohio, and other nearby states, i am certainly glad that Pennsylvania has the inspections! I've seen cars in Ohio, that i could see the driver's feet thru the side cowl panels, and others were just as bad!
Knowing the natural tendency of lots of car and truck owners, to delay the repair of many safety related items, Discontinuing mandatory safety inspections will doom more folks to death on the hiways, or at least, serious injury!
Pa. used to have twice a year inspections, but with the newer cars on the roads, they went to once a year. Older trucks and cars, if kept up on repairs, can easily pass the test, but, take in an Ohio Rat, and you'll get the "Bum's rush"!
 
In N.Y. you have to pass the emissions test and the results are transfered to the state. You cannot just turn off the code as the computer will report that info to the state. You have to spend something around $400 on repairs to fix the reported issue before the shop can issue you a sticker. I just had my truck done and the mechanic discussed this with me. He stated that they had only one unrepairable emissions exemption this year and the state audited them over it. He had to produce the records of the attempted repairs which had to show reapirs that were directly related to fixing the problem. Buying new tires does not qualify for the emmisions exemption! While I was there they brought in a truck on a flat bed with a broken balljoint. Mechanic stated he noticed the balljoint as almost in need of replacment at last years inspection. The truck owner was informed of the issue but never had it replaced. A new balljoint was cheap compared to the repairs that truck now needs. The biggest issue with state inspections is the time involved to do it right as compared to the money they get for doing the job. Oh and don't get him started on trailer inspections which now take 45 minutes to do but they can only charge $6 for it.

IMHO Properly done inspections have saved countless lives as that may be the only time a vehicle is looked at by a qualified mechanic.
 
That only applies to 1996 and newer with gas engines and OBDII systems, and then only partially true. Not older and not many diesels.

None of my vehicles get emissions tests here in NY and all my pre 1996s get inspected at half price. Our newest rigs, e.g. a 1998 Dodge and a 2000 Kia do not get emission tested either.
 
Pitch talking about brakes and lights.

I don't think anyone would drive around without brakes. As far as lights, in my many years of having inspections done I never had the inspection find lights out. However I have been stopped by several times by cop for a light not working.It is a waist of time for inspections, they don't check ball joints and the lights can be good when you leave but go out down the road where the cop will tell you about it, which is good. Likewise your 20 or 30 year old brake may stop good but down the road that old rotten master or wheel cylinder may
blow.
OH they will check that fuel tank cap is sealing, that vacuum hoses are connected, etc. How is that safety.
 
Our governor, is trying to close the budget gap, so they are now importing the sticker glue from China
 
When I lived in northern Vermont i.e. the "Northeast Kingdom" inspections were twice a year and that was back in the 70s. And if you failed, they'd often slap a "stop" sticker on your car and it had to be towed home.

Here in New York, inspection is no big deal for cars and trucks built before 1996. Also cost only 1/2 price as compared to newer rigs.

My son got my diesel Suburban (legal here in NY) and when he took it home to Colorado, it failed due to lack of a turbo. So, due to the high elevation and failed smoke test, he had to install a Banks turbo to be legal.

If the often heard argument is true - about inspections saving so many lives, does that mean everyone in Michigan is getting killed? Most of the state of Michigan has no inspection at all.
I'd love to have that here in NY.
 
So, are you claiming that in all the states that don't have inspections, the death and accident rates are higher? Last I checked, they are not. Look at Michigan stats.
 

They used to have inspections in SC. Price was set at a level the mechanic inspecting the vehicle could not make any money on it if he did a through inspection such as checking to see if the lights were lined up. Therefore, they either gave a sticker after asking you if everything worked or maybe looking at the turn signals, light and tires, or dream up expensive repairs. The state finally did away with inspections, no increase in accident rate that I can tell.Politicians caught a lot of grief over the issue from voters.

KEH
 
what annoys me the most is this issue was identified 6 months ago. The state claimed they would resolve it. My newest registration and inspection sticker did not stick at all. The original one stuck for a few days anyway. Last one did not stick for even a few seconds. I wonder which brother in law got the contract this year.

I remember when it took a Razor blade and an act of god to get the stickers off the windshield
 
When I had the misfortune to have to live in Michigan for a year, it was so easy to tell that the state had NO vehicle inspection, but I guess that the state overlooked things like that as a sop to the UAW.

If Texas does do away with their inspections, the roads will be flooded with uninsured, junk vechicles, driven by unlicensed, illegal alien drivers.
 
(quoted from post at 10:08:32 12/18/09) So, are you claiming that in all the states that don't have inspections, the death and accident rates are higher? Last I checked, they are not. Look at Michigan stats.
Click to expand...

That's cause they rust out first!!
 
Doesn't sound like you ever spent time in rural New York. With all our inspection laws, people still break the law. Some drive drunk, drive with fake plates, no insurance, etc. If anything, it's worse here then anything I've seen in Michigan . . . and I spend a lot of time in rural northern MI and and the eastern UP.

The stats. certainly don't back up your comments.
 
We have them here. They are required by insurance companies for any vehicle BOUGHT that is over 12 years old. I guess the idea is to make sure they are safe. They have been cracking down on shops not doing proper inspections and the shop/mechanic can actually lose their license. What really gets me is that if the vehicle wasn't sold and the current owner already had insurance on it, no inspection is necessary. I bought a 94 4 cyl. Ranger last year to save on gas and had to have some work done to pass inspection. If the guy had never sold me the truck and kept driving it himself, it was deemed safe. Seems stupid to me considering one of the things it needed was front brake hoses. Dave
 
I lived in Texas with an inspection, last I knew new vehicles didn"t have to be inspected for 5 years. Now in Ky in an area w/ no inspection required. Both have their bad.
Might be a happy middle ground, maybe every three years w/ no engine check and I thought rust was kinda stupid in the rust belt areas.
 
Is there any state other than Texas west of the Mississippi that has safety inspections? Seems to be pretty common in the east, I guess.
 
I've read many studies on the results of motor vehicle mandated inspections. Here in the USA, the United Kingdom, and Australia. All come back the same. Pretty much a waste of money and time.

Every study shows accidents caused by:

Human error - 80%-95%
Environmental factors - 10%-30%
Vehicle factors - 2%- 10%


The effectiveness of vehicle safety inspections: 1999 USA

To examine the effect of inspection laws on fatality and injury rates, we used a panel of the
50 states for the years 1981-1993.

Contrary to a number of existing studies, our results indicated that inspections fail to
significantly reduce fatality rates or accidents.

Two types of inspection programs exist: mandatory annual inspections and spot
inspections, where law enforcement officers can at their discretion stop and inspect a
vehicle

Vehilcle defects play a minor roll in accidents.

Human error - 80% - 95%
Environmental factors - 10% - 30%
Vehicle factors - 2% - 10%
 
I've had exactly the same experience and am constantly using scotch tape on the windshields.
Besides the regs. sticker, the new inspections stickers are also falling off. And, I almost got a ticket a few months ago for a sticker that was hanging, half-on and half-off.

I've got six vehicles on the road, so it is 6X aggravating.

And they still want to make us buy new plates at $75 each as a money maker? That will cost me $900, just to support some welfare program or union state worker.
 
I agree, they rust out anywhere salt is used. Michigan has never been real zealous about inspections, even of commercial vehicles. I don't know what the UAW has to do with it? Cars are really in the culture here, a good example is the Dream Cruise held every year on Woodward, going from Detroit to Pontiac, You won't see rustbuckets there, but an amazing variety of classic muscle cars, trucks, and antiques. Lots of crowds, but a great display of classic iron. Just for laughs, maybe it's our roads that screen out dangerous cars. I've seen a bunch that just collapsed when they got et by a pothole!!!
 
The state auto inspection program is a colossal joke. In January 1976 I bought a used car here in Indiana, and I watched it go through the inspection process. It "passed" the inspection with a broken shock absorber and a hole in the muffler...and the mechanic who inspected the car was talking to an Indiana State Trooper who was standing there the entire time the "inspection" took place.

It was simply a program to generate revenue for the state...taking unsafe cars off the road simply never happened, but it was used to sell a lot of parts and labor at sevice stations [which no longer exist these days]. And parts break and fail at any time. If your turn signal switch fails right after the inspection, you've got 12 whole months to drive the car before you have to get it inspected again.

Again, just a revenue producer for the state, and a way to generate work for repair shops. But they don't produce safer vehicles, no matter what anyone says.
 
When I lived in northern Vermont with inspections twice a year, I was told it was because of rust fears and cars breaking apart.

I spend a lot of time in northern Michigan and have seen much rattier cars here in New York.

To my surprise, I bought my 92 Dodge-Cummins truck from northern Maine and it has almost NO rust. I was told that the area it came from uses sand instead of salt. If it had been a NY truck from my area, the doors would of fallen off by now, and the frame would be broken in half.
 
Live in PA and have inspections once a year along with emisions, went next county north of me to buy a new car, NO emisions in that county, claim they don't have the bad air and junk in air as our county does.... What gives. Don c
 
Uninsured, junk vehicles driven by unlicensed, illegal alien drivers in Texas?!!
You haven't driven in Texas lately, have you?
 
Wisconsin has emissions inspection on sold cars only in the 6 S. E. counties around Milwaukee area- that is the tested high pollution zone. Central Wisconsin around Madison tested clean again this past year- was very close call but clean enough not to require emissions inspections on car yet. The Miwaukee car dealers send failing emissions cars to Madison to be sold to the state workers and college teachers instead of spending the extra thousand to fix them. PA probably working same set up- only the counties that had previously tested dirty required to have emissions test of vehicle at sale by federal law. RN
 
Colorado has some inspections, not sure if all vehicles were required to pass. The used Jeeps that Illinois Jeep dealer I worked for sent his brothers shop there had to pass safety inspection and pollution equipment before they could be sold and mention was made of annual inspections. Iowa got picky on inspections of pollution equipment and exhaust systems after a car killed couple people from exhaust leak- car was sold and killed another one - exhaust leak known was not fixed. Police, politicians and transportation departments all were getting bad publicity so point of sale inspection for used cars became rule. Inspection isn't done hard- but a noted defective vehicle doesn't get transfer and registered without exhaust inspection. Brother had to put a JD B muffler-what he had laying on shelf- on his Ford pickup to pass inspection. RN
 
More government intrusion into our lives that should be done away with.

People that don't perform their own maintenance can still get inspections done voluntarily, we shouldn't need a law for it.
 
I used to visit the Detroit area frequently a few years back. I always figured that the reason they had so many potholes was that every car that got destroyed by potholes meant another one they got to build to replace it. I was taking a shortcut thru a Target parking lot (off Van Dyke in Sterling Heights) and saw a traffic cone in the middle of the parking lot. Drove over to check it out and it was the mother of all potholes. Musta been 2 ft deep and about 15 ft across!
 
North Carolina had had inspections for a long time but the only time it mattered is when you got stopped for a moving violation. Then the officer would check the sticker date and write a ticket for expired tag. Now----- No Stickers but each inspection station has a state furnished computer that puts it into the state databank. Without an inspection you cannot renew your license plates. I got caught in that last october. Also every cop has a computer in his car and can check it also. Big Brother is out there Be Careful Henry
 
I don't think the inspection program we have here in nova scotia is such a bad thing. It used to be once a year but they changed it to once every 2 years this past april.
It only costs 30 bucks here and it's administered by any private shop that is licensed as an 'inspection station'.
It does generate some work for the garages. Especially the crooked ones... but most take it fairly seriously. They used to require checks on lights, wipers, heater etc along with the running gear but in april the focus changed a bit to eliminate that stuff. Now ti's basically just brakes, tires, front ends, exhaust... basic running gear. No holes in the body. Safety items.
As hard as some of you find it to beleive... without an inspection system there would be a lot of people around here who would simply drive the damn thing until it stoped or the wheels fell off. I'm tempted to say that's a female thing... but there's lots of men today that are equally bad. Lots just don't know any better.
Then there are those of us who do know better and do so anyway...
Inspection forces me to fix things that I'd otherwise ignore quite a long time otherwise.
Spot checks for stickers will get you eventually if you run without a sticker. The creeper police are also out doing spot inspections... so they check up on shops 'giving' out stickers without having done an inspection... or a proper inspection.

Yeah... the whole thing is a pain in the arse, but I do beleive it does help to keep many vehicles in a more servicable condition. Mabey not prevent a lot of accidents... but clean up on some of the junk.

Rod
 
N.Y. Binghamton area the land of salt. Just had truck inspected and it failed. Pin hole in fuel filler pipe right at the top. Cost was $404. to fix so it would pas the phoney inspection. If the GD state or F'n US gov was so worried about some gas fumes polluting the air what about the 1 million acres that burn EVERY year in California. Don't get me started on this. I'm done.
 
When I existed in Taxus a few years ago I went in for my first inspection of a car with a cracked windshield which would have failed in California or Colorado. The car passed so I asked about the windshield. The inspector said the test was, get this, "If he can scratch across the crack without his finger nail catching it passes." My only failure in ten years was that little foil heater tube between the exhaust and the air cleaner.
 
Relative to RN's post, if you happen to be a sucker in the outlying areas of a county that has a city of 50,000 you are stuck submitting the the emmision test even if the only time your vehicle gets close to the city is every other year for the emmision test. Irritates the heck out of me.

Areo
 
If a car had an inspection and everything was up to snuff, would significantly lower the vehicle failure percentage because that vehicle wouldn't have failed, resulting in an accident. There is no way to measure how many accidents are avoided by having a proper inspection and/or necessary repairs done. Like someone else mentioned, without some kind of safety regulations for vehicles, especially older ones, there would be a lot more accidents and vehicles left stranded on the road. Some inspectors are overly picky though. Imagine if semi's never had inspections? Cars are no different in terms of serious injury potential. A few years ago Ontario was really getting strict with big trucks because wheels were flying off and going through cars windshields. Several people were seriously injured and even killed. Inspections aren't a bad idea but they need to be consistent for everyone. Dave
 
Only inspections in Kentucky are on vehicles for 15 or more passengers, commercial vehicles, and when you purchase a vehicle from out of state. Those are the one I love, have to go to the sheriffs office, 2 bucks, and the last one I had done he inspected out the window of his office.
 
Michigan has the highest weight limits for trucks in the country. 80K, the fed limit is 40K. And poorly enforced at that. I was told, by a steelhauler, that he ran 200K regularly. He also told me that they bought trailers in Indiana, gave them to a Michigan shop to make them into Michigan trailers. This involved welding in reinforcements. He said it took a week, and 200lbs of welding rod.
 
Yep, I bought a used four wheeler when I was in college from a dealer. It was a trade in from IN. The guy at the dealer told me that I needed a title for it and I would have to take it the the sherif's office. I took it to them to get inspected, the lady did the inspection from a second floor window. Wish some one had told me getting a title for a fourwheeler just means you have to pay tax on it every year(ain't done that again).
 
"I don't think the inspection program we have here in nova scotia is such a bad thing"...."Yeah... the whole thing is a pain in the arse"

So which is it?
 
Everything is black and white in your world isn't it?
It's a pain in the hole, but it cuts down on the junk that's allowed on the highway. So I put up with the annoyance.

Rod
 
Failed ball joints are common.I had 2 55 chevys lose a drivers side ball joints when I was driving behind one and one that crossed the road in front of me.The car went into the ditch on my side of the road.I was down the hill far enough to stop.That would have been a head on if I was closer.Women were driving in both cases.I took one to a garage and the other to a store where she could use a phone.Both were shaking when they got out of their cars.Insections are important.I did inspections in MA when they cost 50 cents.In Ma now an insection station cant do repairs on any defects it finds.This stops the ripoffs.Cars used get greased often in the 50s, cost a buck 25.I looked for defects during the grease jobs,found many leakey shocks and exhuast system s that had defects.Tie rod ends were always checked before greasing.Since I drove the cars on and off the lift I got to check the brakes.My wifes car gets a free inspection where she bought the car.I see many more lights out now on cars and trucks.Emmission tests are not needed,in MA a leakey exhaust can put a car off the road.Maine tried emmission testing run by a private co.A lot of cars got blown engines from high rpm no load testing.Maine quit the testing Co sued the state.
 
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