After NJ did away with safety inspections and began to check only emissions, one of the inspectors commented to me that someone could drive in with bald tires, a missing windshield, and no working headlights, but he would have to give the car a “passing” sticker as long as the emissions test was good.
When OK had an inspection program it was a joke. I know, because I was an inspector (forced to be) and in all honesty did not give 2 cents whether a car was safe or not. No one did.
We got paid 2 dollars for an inspection and according to the state that inspection should take over an hour. Who’s going to work for less than 2 bucks an hour? Most were pencil whipped.
The only reason for that program anyway was not vehicle safety; it was to pad the state trooper’s pension fund. So said the DPS.
Even with the program dead and buried, motorists can still be ticketed for safety violations.
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I might be wrong ( it would not be the first time ) but I think if the state’s would back down somewhat on the emissions test’s and reinstate strict safety inspections it would take more car’s off of the road. How many state’s still have safety inspection’s I can only think of two?
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Here in California we don’t have vehicle safety inspections . . . although I think they’re needed . . . but we obviously have emissions inspections, and rather strict ones at that
anyways, a few years ago, it seems that if you go in for a smog, the inspector also measures your tire pressure and notes it down.
I don’t think a car could be failed and/or held up because of bald tires, at least not here
As for that missing windshield, take your chances I guess. That’s asking for a fix-it ticket, if you ask me. And they can be a pain in the butt, mostly because you’ve got a certain time frame, and then you need to get it signed off. It definitely won’t be the smog inspector who gives you a hard time, but the police officer on his regular patrol who might give you that fix-it ticket.
It’s a yes/no test, is the CEL lit or not. Don’t know how they’d ‘back down’.
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I was thinking not being so strict I know some state’s require that you spend up to certain amount to fix if that still don’t pass you get a wavier to pass I would rather see the car owner spend that money on safety issues instead
You definitely have some valid points . . .
I’d rather be driving next to somebody with good brakes and tires, but the check engine light is illuminated, versus driving next to somebody with metal-to-metal brakes, bald tires, but the check engine light isn’t illuminated
Which one of those is more likely to not stop in time and rear-end somebody, or maybe lose control because their tires have no traction . . . ?!
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The Maryland legislature tried too as a safety inspection law, but it wasn’t going anywhere. Instead, they gave the police the job of stopping vehicles with a safety violation, typically burned out bulbs. They give you a warning and two weeks to get the violation fixed. You have to get any police officer to sign off that the job was done, and send the signed off paper to the state police HQ. The stop shouldn’t take long, but typically it takes forever because this also gives them an excuse to run your name and license through the system.
At one time OK decided to recertify their vehicle safety inspectors and I was sent kicking and screaming to go through this garbage again. I decided to fail myself.
On the application there was one line for “How many traffic tickets? Explain.” Not on one line I can’t as I’ve had about 40 give or take. Long hair, beard, and a Harley guarantees traffic stops for no reason so I wrote “Too many too list”.
During the actual test (which I could have aced) I intentionally answered 80% of the questions wrong and felt pretty good about not being saddled with this bunk anymore.
Nope. A week later a state trooper came to the shop looking for me. After some serious questioning he said that he could not find one ticket on me in any records and he even checked with the OSBI and FBI of all agencies for criminal records. He said someone must have pushed the wrong button and cleared my DMV records by accident so they were going with “He’s clean”.
I asked about the test which I knew was 80% wrong. “Oh, you’re fine. We’re passing you. Here’s your inspector’s certificate”. Dxxxit. What a joke.
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Just the front-left? hmmm… lose weight, maybe? 
Not in Georgia! I got hit by a car with 4 bald tires in Cobb county Ga, I asked the cop weither he was going to write her up for bald tires, he replied there was nothing he could do about the tires, since there was no safety inspection!
New York does safety and emissions inspections. Just safety for the first couple of years for new vehicles.
Not here. They hook up to the OBD 2 port and look at the status of the monitors. Too many not ready, the vehicle fails regardless of CEL status.