New Inspections in Mass?

It's been a while since an inspection station said anything to me about the dealer surrounds, but I did have one fail me for having a hitch ball on the step bumper of an S10 pickup. 

Now you can not "help" the owner you have to fail the car (you are on camera now) if it is in the bay and the plate surround thing is in the car it fails period.

 

I guess all you can do is a walk around before pulling it into the bay and telling the owner what needs to be done (like the plate surround) before you pull it in on camera

Wondering— I've had inspection stations replace wipers and bulbs during the inspection process many times, might they not remove the plate surrounds in the same way. Charge for the service or not, but it would sure expedite the inspection process if it keeps me from coming back and him doing everything all over again for free. Or am I giving more credit than deserved to the new overlords who are in control of things right now. I SO love talking to a computer when it comes to insurance and credit cards, it's gonna be great having the inspector talking with a computer or computer "person" in the middle of the inspection. REALLY looking forward to that delight !

I totally theorize that, as it is with Registry Personnel, Mass Transit Operators, Mass Turnpike workers, and bus drivers, NOBODY is ever going to admit that they work for the Automobile Inspection division. Has ANYONE here ever met ANYONE who actually admits to working behind the counter of the RMV/DMV ? EVER ? !

I thought not. I've been on earth for much more than six decades and never once ran into an admitted Registry Employee, how is that possible? Betcha it's the same with everyone here.

In reply to mad_machine :

The problem is now they call it presenting the car for inspection.  No walk around no "pre-inspections"  You come in and say you want your car inspected I am now an inspector and I start the process.  This starts out side of the bay.  Like i said people are in for a big wake up call.  I could see a business model that does pre inspections of cars.  Not a guarantee pass but it would pick up on all the little stuff.   

In reply to Two_Tools_In_a_Tent :

Nope no more being able to fix things.  Inspecting only.  People are going to be so pissed at this new system.  

Ohya no outer body rust holes at all.  Non, Nadda.  I see many many cars coming of the road with this one.  Again not a rule change but now with enforcement many people are going to get dinged for this.     

Every pickup truck with rockers or cab corners with even the smallest hole will now be failed.  

dean1484 said:

In reply to Two_Tools_In_a_Tent :

Ohya no outer body rust holes at all.  Non, Nadda.  I see many many cars coming of the road with this one.  Again not a rule change but now with enforcement many people are going to get dinged for this.     

We can get around that with as little as duct tape here in PA. for now anyway. A lot of things can be left to the inspector discretion as far as rust repairs go, but the rule is no holes larger than a quarter our with sharp edges. 

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole "need" for cameras in every shop, and who and how that that will all be monitored by. 

Hopefully, this will piss the right people off and this will just be a costly mistake in a year or so. 

A work around might be a free pre-trip inspection done by a non-inspector that just happens to look like the inspection requirements

Also sounds like there will be a lot of V8 power plants.

So back to an earlier issue - does "letter of the law" mean the Harleys will now be muffled? The dirty diesels neutered? Cats checked & fart cans yanked? Will the hood stay closed unless there's a CEL or emissions code thrown?

dean1484 said:

In reply to Two_Tools_In_a_Tent :

Ohya no outer body rust holes at all.  Non, Nadda.  I see many many cars coming of the road with this one.  Again not a rule change but now with enforcement many people are going to get dinged for this.    

NH has this rust thing also. What a pain in the a$$, The reason given is exhaust fumes can enter the car. Well yea if they can, they can though the the weep hole as well an inch away. Said hole in my car was the rocker on a 84 300d, smaller than the weep hole with a weep hole fore and aft of the rust hole.  Yet there I see tons of rusty pickups driving around past cops and not getting pulled over. Guess up hear its a who you know thing, or maybe PUs are exempt.

I also failed once for not having a muffler in the stock position, exhaust exited in the stock position, and was as quiet as stock. Which is funny as the guy doing the inspection had a lifted truck with an aftermarket exhaust and muffler not in the stock position.

My latest gripe with the NH inspection is tint. What fun that was removing it with a broken collar bone. The car, 2012 CRV came new from a dealer in MA with the tint and passed the last two NH inspections, but not this time. The first attempt, "remove the tint from the driver and passenger windows". OK done, return for the sticker, then it was remove it all, its to dark (3% over the limit) "We will do it for 30 a window" 5 Windows, 150 bucks, no thanks.  

Inspections are fun.....

Dashpot wrote:

So back to an earlier issue - does "letter of the law" mean the Harleys will now be muffled? The dirty diesels neutered? Cats checked & fart cans yanked? Will the hood stay closed unless there's a CEL or emissions code thrown?

 

 

Basically yes except for the opening of the hood. A cell does not mean that.  As for the abnormally loud bikes I really don't know.  Different license that I don't have. And a different type of station.   

Diesel emission testing will not change. As time moves on they are the same obd test and no more opacity tests.

Oh and even if a car passes the obd test but we observe unusual amounts of smoke from the exhaust it is a fail.  

The issue is that with the cameras in place there is a perminant record of the inspection.  So even though the odds of some one actually watching at small if a car gets pulled over later and the officer observes a violation they will be tasked with reporting it. Meaning you get a notice requesting you bring your car to a MAC in a given time period for inspection and investigation or your registration is canceled.  The then go over your car and either fail it and they go back and review the video of your inspection and go after the inspector and the station. Again no law change just that they will now have the ability to go go back and review the inspection and get the inspectors. So as an inspector I know that i will be failing lots of cars. 

People are going to loose there minds with this. 

In reply to lrrs:

I have not even got in to the tint regulations yet. 

Wow, you guys have been lucky!  

Pa has most if not all of this stuff currently.

I have been pulled over for the stock, factory tinted windows in the rear of my truck.

The change sucks, but it isn't all doom and gloom.  The laws will most likely be enforced when and if you do something to get their attention.

The cameras are a bit over the top!

I think I am very berkley'd. 

dean1484 said:

In reply to lrrs:

I have not even got in to the tint regulations yet. 

Oh yeah, I forgot that those are a thing. Here in Phoenix everyone just runs the darkest tint that they can, I never really see people getting tickets for it.

I have been thinking and I may just get rid of all my cars and just purchase a new Sierra Denali and in theory be done with this. The up side is I can inspect my own cars but with cameras I will have to be my own toughest critic.  

Decided I'm not going to chance going through the new inspection so I rushed to get my AMC Spirit ready before Oct 1st. Not sure how the new system would work out with the turbo 4.0L, missing front bumper, and altered ride height.