We don’t have testing of any kind in our state. I am grateful for that.
It seems the bigger problem with car/truck safety is the drivers. Many are drunk, on drugs, texting, etcetera. It’s not the vehicles that scare me.
Chances of me getting hurt or killed by one of those clowns seems much greater than from faulty vehicles.
I would prefer my tax dollars go to helping with that problem.
CSA
An excellent post with which I fully agree.
Unfortunately, alcohol has become over our history such a permeating part of our social culture that drunk driving is largely tolerated. Sure, if a cop catches a drunk, which usually is after an accident, he/she gets a fine and a day in jail, but he/she then gets his/her car back and goes back out on the road to do it all over, again and again and again. Even if he/she kills someone. He/she may lose their license, but not their ability to drive. That can only happen if the car is confiscated, but nobody anywhere that I know of is willing to go that far.
There are efforts to crack down on distracted driving (texting etc.) but I don’t know how effective they are. Drugs in NH are included under the same Driving Under the Influence laws as drinking, but the courts elevate the sentences.
And if you’re influential enough, you can even drive drunk off a bridge, not report it until the next morning and the booze has worn off letting your lady passenger drown, and still get only a slap on the wrist.
In short, by far the biggest dangers are the loose nuts behind too many steering wheels.
It was quite common towards the end of the inspection program here in OK to be in and out in 5 minutes or less.
Drive into an empty stall, one guy was at the front, one at the rear. Turn on the lights, hit the brakes, turn signals, honk the horn, run the wipers, fill out the brief form, collect 5 bucks, done and out the door.
Another vehicle road worthy for another year…
What a farce…
FIVE BUCKS?! Dang, I wish. We pay around $45.
I had one guy scouring my car for 45 minutes just trying to find something wrong. At the time, that car had 270k miles on it and they couldn’t believe it was going to pass. I heard them talking about it and so I was curious. I caught the guy looking at my tail light lenses from a micron away and asked him what the heck he was doing. I’m looking for cracks. Seriously? He says, you want me to be sure it’s safe, right? No, I want you to put a sticker on it…
I personally inspect my vehicles before I bring it in for an inspection so there’s no surprises.
CSA
@TwinTurbo , the main reason for the existence of the former OK vehicle safety inspection program was to add dollars to the state troopers pension fund. This was so stated by officials. Vehicle safety was for the most part irrelevant.
It was 2 bucks before it became 5 and the pension fund wasn’t growing enough…
You have convinced me!
Even though I often observe people blasting past red lights, the fact that they don’t kill innocent motorists every time they do this is sufficient for me to advocate for the removal of those traffic lights.
Just got it inspected again at a small local shop and they said the rear brakes are fine and that if they were warped I would have felt something, just like I thought. But they failed me for inner tread wear on the rear tires, which the dealer had said they would let go. Oh well, I was planning to replace those tires soon anyway, and doing so will be cheaper and less hassling than replacing the brakes. Lesson learned; I’ll be very careful about where I take my car for inspections in the future. I’ll probably be complaining to the local legislature as well about the requirement of these inspections.
…which likely indicates a problem with your wheel alignment.
I would advise you to correct the alignment problems immediately after buying your new tires, and to not ignore symptoms of that nature if you want your new tires to wear evenly.
The front tires have been wearing on the inside since I got the car, and this is the second time I’ve failed an inspection because of that. I had a 4 wheel alignment done last year, and rotated the fronts to the rear this past August. When I called another dealer recently they said the tires would continue to wear in the same pattern even after an alignment, till replacing them. The local shop said this is wrong, so I’m getting all kinds of mixed messages.
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Yeah, me too Mike. I’m sure all of the regular posters here do as well. Unfortunately, that does not prevent the person doing the inspection from surprising me with the occasional fabricated problem. Like the time I took my 2 year old van in and was told it needed new tires. It had 6000 miles on it. Funny, once I pointed that out, it wasn’t a problem anymore.
At least they weren’t greedy about it! 
Tire wear on the inside edges of the tires means there is too much negative camber or too much toe-out.
This could be due to simple alignment or an alignment issue caused by worn or damaged suspension components.
I personally inspect my vehicles before I bring it in for an inspection so there’s no surprises.<<
I do too. A few years ago I brought my '99 Monte Carlo in for a NC inspection. They passed me but charged me for new wiper blades. I know they were less than a year old AND WIPED/CLEANED just fine and were not ripped at all. But it was cheap enough I just paid and left (grumbling).
It’s happened to me a couple times. I find another inspector. Once I find a good honest inspector I stick with them. Over the past 35+ years living in NH I’ve only had 3 regular garages that do any work on our vehicles. They are good and honest.