Steve automotive question

I didn't want to poop on your post, but living in Alabama it always makes me laugh when folks say a car won't pass emissions. No such ' government ' meddling here. Can't believe y'all put up with it. Lol.

Iowa had an inspection law at one time. Cars had to pass inspection when they were sold. The law had no teeth and was repealed. That was a good 40 years ago.

SC quit inspections years ago.
It was a joke.
There was a guy I knew who was in charge of getting the inspection stickers to the stations that did the work.
He used to grab a stack of stickers and would park in a spot and sell them to people.

The powers that be figured out they were losing money on it, so they stopped doing it. I knew of only one guy who actaully did the inspection. Everybody else just checked off the boxes, put on the sticker, and took your money.

I think it's more of a population density issue. Major metropolitan areas with constant flow of traffic pretty much makes it a necessity.

Then add the tendency of those who do not care at all, some with their full on performance cars and trucks, and others that will continue to drive a junk car getting 3 MPG to the very end!

We've gone through a lot of turmoil here regarding inspections. Probably in the 80's, the fraud got so bad, dishonest shops failing every vehicle to gouge them for unneeded repairs, that the state decided they were going to do all the inspections themselves. That was a multimillion dollar flop that never got off the ground.

Then when OBDII came along, everything was scanned and computerized, it made cheating near impossible.

Now, you get inspected, the pass information is sent to DMV. This allows you to renew your registration, and the combo inspection/registration sticker is mailed, you put it inside the windshield yourself.

Twenty years ago I lived in Maryland for a few years. They have stringent safety inspections and required emissions tests. When I moved there from Texas I had a 1987 Honda Accord that had passed both tests in TX. During the first safety inspection in MD they dinged me for having a spot in the rocker panel that had rusted through. Apparently that's a violation because the exhaust fumes could enter the car's interior. I patched it with body puddy, took it back and it passed. But a few years later I couldn't get it to pass emissions. It failed because of high hydrocarbon output when decelerating. I had a newer car by then so I donated the Honda to our local NPR station.

Interestingly, at the testing station they provided the printout from the tailpipe sniffer. It showed graphs for carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and something else, maybe NOx (can't remember). I compared the output from the 87 Honda with my newer 96 Camry. Looking at the graphs it was clear that the four cylinder Honda was dumping over 20 times more hydrocarbons than the six cylinder Camry. I tinkerer with the carbureted Honda but after a couple of failed tests, I gave up and donated the car. In 2008 I moved back to Kansas and I enjoy not having to comply with any inspections!

Until 2012 I lived in Louisville, Ky. Louisville had something called the VET. Vehicle emission testing. My old truck would always pass if I disconnected the vacuum advance. Louisville had three expressways going through it with no regard for testing the through traffic. 98% of all cars tested would pass, so the VET became another tax and the guy who owned the testing centers became a rich. Ellis

Here in Ontario,Canada, we seemed to like to do whatever California did, until a couple years ago. We had to make all gasoline powered vehicles pass emissions test every two years to be eligible to get a license plate renewal sticker. It got so very few cars ever failed the testing once fuel injected and electronic ignition became the dominant vehicles. So the government got rid of emissions testing! Last year they got rid of annual licence stickers for plate renewal. We just buy the plate once,$59.00, and re register online every two years, no charge!

I knew one fellow that did a true inspection.
Like you say, most just wanted the dollars.

What, nobody on here from a New England State.? Like MASS, Vehicle inspection every 3-4 months, must have sticker displayed. Lights, brakes, exhaust(db's) and emissions. glass, rust, tires, wheel bearings and more... I lived there 3 years, couldn't wait to get back to (no testing) Michigan !

We all like clean air and water.

The purpose of emission tests is to weed out the worst polluters. When they get carried to extremes, they become a problem. Most inspection laws are a sham anyways. You can pass an inspection in January and be having bad brakes, bad steering, or bald tires in a matter of weeks. There is no assurance that a vehicle that passes an inspection today will be roadworthy a month from now.

Don't have a lot of choice. You either get the vehicle to pass inspection or drive like an escape con ducking down side streets every time you see a police car. I did that for a long time but now drive vehicles too old to have to pass emission standards. Where I live in Texas a vehicle older than 25 years is exempt.

Indiana quit vehicle inspections in about 1980 because all it turned into was graft and theft. We had a car that wouldn't pass due to rust, but was all my parents could afford. All the cars like that had to go to one particular garage in town where he charged you whatever he wanted to, then gave you a sticker. That's all inspections are about in any state, money. Any state that says it's for the environment, or safety, is lying. If there wasn't money to be grifted, they wouldn't do it.

Wow, you guys make it sound like NH may be the most honest state in the country!! I have been getting vehicles inspected for over fifty years. We used to have to get them done twice a year, but as cars have gotten better built and more reliable they went to once a year. Between the salt on the roads and the number of cars on the road per mile, I think that it is beneficial to have them checked, especially brakes, front ends, lights, etc that could affect the safety of my grand kids when on the road. It seems like once every other year you read about someone getting caught trying to cheat the system, so you know that there is oversight. Probably generally here in NH people are less likely to cheat one another so you don't hear about stations gouging on price or taking your money but not doing the work. "The New Hampshire advantage" as our governor likes to put it.

(quoted from post at 06:19:41 01/10/23) Can't believe y'all put up with it. Lol.

Click to expand...

What else you gonna do? Complaining to the elected officials doesn't help. Everyone could just move to Alabama but you wouldn't like being so crowded, and you won't like how things change once enough outsiders move in. Just ask Texas.

NY baffles me. Annual inspection is $21.00, and has been for a very long time. They can't be making any money on it, and they don't DARE try to raise the price. It costs the garages more than $21 to just "lick 'em and stick 'em" but they also have to do the OBDII scan.

(quoted from post at 10:30:27 01/11/23)

(quoted from post at 06:19:41 01/10/23) Can't believe y'all put up with it. Lol.

Click to expand...

NY baffles me. Annual inspection is $21.00, and has been for a very long time. They can't be making any money on it, and they don't DARE try to raise the price. It costs the garages more than $21 to just "lick 'em and stick 'em" but they also have to do the OBDII scan.

Click to expand...

I was chatting with a friend who has a repair shop and does inspections here in NY. He recently failed a car that had a ball joint about to fall out, in a car that a lady used to shuttle her three little kids around. Had a call from the lady's husband a few days later reading him the riot act about failing it. He tried to explain how dangerous it was and that it wasn't if, but when, it would fail completely potentially putting his wife and kids at risk of a serious accident. Husband said he had just called the State Authorities who told him that ball joints had been taken off the list of possible inspection fails and he better give them a sticker. He told the guy that he wouldn't; in spite of the State's position he couldn't in good conscience say that the car was safe. The entire process is flawed.

I can't believe you put up with the pollution in Alabama!

But yet if over 18 years of age seatbelts are optional.
Good figure. What happened to Live free or Die?



Vito