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The solution proposed in the article is a high tech one that might help, but the real solution should be that misaligned headlights fail inspection. Inspection
by binarymax 4y ago
The solution proposed in the article is a high tech one that might help, but the real solution should be that misaligned headlights fail inspection. Inspection needs to be updated to incorporate measurement standards, and the standards need to be followed.
- mikeyouse 4y agoMany states don’t have an inspection process or any requirements whatsoever for roadworthiness or emissions performance. (Edited 'Most States' to 'Many States' since the exact number is a distraction, but in either case, millions of cars will never see an inspection)
- lotsofpulp 4y agoMost cars in the US are subject to emissions inspections. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_inspection_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_inspection_in_the_Unit...
- kgermino 4y agoMost cars are, but it’s generally not statewide and just focused on areas with high local pollution. More to the point, it’s just an emissions test. It usually doesn’t test every car and (at least in the states I’ve done it) it’s just a computer checking that the cars computer is giving a normal report. There’s no safety inspection in most states and there’s no way to fail emissions for a safety issue if they did see something
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- partiallypro 4y agoMost counties don't require inspection. So I don't think that would work.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- Verdex 4y agoYeah, I was going to mention this. Indiana for example does not require any inspection except maybe for some sort of VIN inspection for cars titled outside of the state. And I think there might be one or two counties that have some sort of emissions inspection (out of 92 total counties). I haven't really looked into this for other states, but I suspect we're not alone.
- moffkalast 4y agoWhy is this a county thing where it should be a national federal thing? Can you not drive the car outside the county?
- AlgorithmicTime 4y ago[dead]
- partiallypro 4y agoYour car is only regulated by where you have it registered. So, if you are in Tennessee as an example, Davidson Co residents pay higher plate fee and also must pass inspection. Residents in Rutherford Co pay a slightly lower plate fee and no longer have to pass inspection. Inspections in the US are largely emissions. Some counties have dropped this because they found it ineffective or not cost efficient. If your vehicle doesn't meet obvious road standards, you'll simply be pulled over and ticketed.
- nluken 4y agoInteresting that it's done at the county level in TN. In my experience (which, to be fair, is mostly in the Northeast where counties are pretty much irrelevant) these laws are usually made at the state level, not the county level, though your point stands when comparing states.
- moffkalast 4y ago
- whalesalad 4y agoGod bless my state of Michigan: zero inspections, no front license plates. I’ve lived in states with the opposite and it’s oppressive (as an automotive enthusiast)
- pmalynin 4y agoMichigan is oppressive enough. Didn’t they sue tesla for offering direct to consumer (read bypassing the dealer network oligopoly) cars?
- dsfyu404ed 4y ago>Didn’t they sue tesla for offering direct to consumer (read bypassing the dealer network oligopoly) cars? Call me cynical but given the entrenched and moneyed interests in that state I think you'd be a fool to expect otherwise.
- qbrass 4y agoGM and Ford have been trying to shed their dealer networks for the better part of a century, but even in Michigan, dealerships have more lobbying power than they do. They're obviously not going to stand for Tesla doing what they're banned from doing. Even if they'd rather be doing it themselves.
- ThunderSizzle 4y agoAnd entirely corrupt and inconsistent. I know people who get the inspections stickers withheld so the shop can try to talk you into paying for maintenance or given out for free to friends.
- dsfyu404ed 4y agoShops that also run small time (usually BHPH) dealerships or get a lot of income from tire sales are the worst about it due to the obvious conflict of interests. In my state the emissions and safety inspections are combined under the same license. As recently as the 2010s the 3rd party that the training was contracted out to would straight up tell you in the PowerPoint slides that the state's #1 priority is emissions and that the point of the safety inspection was to make holding the license lucrative to remove incentive to circumvent emissions inspection process. At least they're honest...<sigh>
- heavyset_go 4y agoIn my experience, car inspections are a joke, but I also agree with you.
- coffeebeqn 4y agoDepends on the country. In some places they actually fail you if your car is dangerous
- wiredfool 4y agoRoughly 50% of the NCT tests in Ireland fail. Common issues are bulbs, tire inflation, tire wear, shock performance, and alignment. Personally, with an old (2006, 200-300K km) car that we had to NCT every year, we would pass about half the time on the first time, and half of the failures were for BS reasons (e.g., one of the removable seats wasn't installed, it was in storage, or a tent peg dropped into one of the 3rd row seats when they opened it, and couldn't close it again). Even with that NCT, when winter rolls around, 5-10% of cars have obviously broken headlights on any given dog walk.
- lm28469 4y agoDepends where you live, in most of the US yes, try that in Germany or France though
- fy20 4y agoWhere I am in Europe they will test and adjust them for you. My headlights can only be adjusted from behind, and I thought there was no way to do it without removing them. The inspector knew of a plastic gromit in the rain tray above the hood that can be removed to access the adjustment point.
- teeray 4y agoA dash sensor on a police cruiser that would trigger a traffic stop would be wonderful.
- LBJsPNS 4y agoAh yes, just what we need. Another tool the police can use to pull people over. What could possibly go wrong?
- dsfyu404ed 4y agoThe worst part about this crap is that back in "the day" (so like 70yr ago and before) stops (both of pedestrians and motorists) were known to be discretionary and treated as such. If an officer exercised poor discretion that was a legitimate gripe you could air in court. Now with all the laws everyone violates all the time over the course of being a normal person and behaving normally they have a pretext with which to justify any stop they want.
- dghlsakjg 4y agoI'd like to see traffic enforcement separated from crime enforcement, in the same way we do with parking enforcement, code enforcement, etc. No one really worries about these forms of law enforcement. There's no reason a guy with a rifle in the trunk and a bullet proof vest needs to spend most of their day dealing with minor traffic code things on the highway. I would much rather armed cops be much better trained, and much fewer in number, and only activated on the rare occasion that there is a need for them. Traffic cops should be better trained on things like headlight aiming, illegal lift kits and tire modifications, exhaust rules etc... Most places already have plenty of laws around these things (many of them federal) but cops will never go after someone for having a dangerously lifted truck with illegal exhaust for some reason, even though they are happy to cite someone for a burnt out license plate bulb.
- jonesnc 4y agoCars in my state (Utah) don't even get inspected anymore.
- buffington 4y agoNot for safety issues. Emissions inspections are yearly for ICE vehicles still.
- technothrasher 4y agoYou will theoretically fail an inspection in Massachusetts for misaligned headlights, but I've never once heard of anybody actually failing because of it.
- vuln 4y agoIt's typically a simple fix if it's just an alignment issue. That on most cars takes 5 minutes, pop the hood, grab the right screw driver and adjust the beams. A mechanics might charge $20 for this. Now in newer cars with active headlights this method probably won't work, but the active headlights most likely have self leveling and a test to see if they are within spec.
- technothrasher 4y agoYeah, as you say, the old "drive up to garage wall, mark centers of where lights hit the wall, pull back 25 feet and adjust the headlights to the center of the marks" doesn't work on most modern cars any longer.
- Glawen 4y agowas going to ask this. In France you fail inspection (4 years then every 2 years) if your headlights are misaligned, I guess it's the same the whole of Europe.
- barbazoo 4y agoI'm in BC, Canada and car inspections simply aren't a thing. In Germany where I grew up back in the day you had to get your car checked every 2 years or so and checking the alignment of headlights was one of the checks. Sure that would never fly in North America and it wouldn't help here anyway. Trucks are way too high by design.
- iends 4y agoIn the USA, states often require annual inspections.
- caconym_ 4y agoIf your headlights are at the same level as my car's roof, there is no alignment that will both a) not blind me, and b) actually illuminate the road in front of you. It is geometrically impossible. But I agree to some extent that adaptive headlights are a band-aid. The real problem is the American auto market's fetish for ever-larger vehicles with ever-brighter headlights. We are a nation of adult children bereft of restraint, unable to grasp (or, alternately, unconcerned by) the fact that these vain indulgences are killing people.
- rootusrootus 4y ago> If your headlights are at the same level as my car's roof That is the pain of driving a Miata :). For a regular car, for example a Toyota Camry, even the topmost headlight on a Super Duty FX4 is close to a foot below the roofline of the car. Which is good for me, because nobody ever flashes me when I'm driving my pickup, but I do occasionally get flashed in my Model 3.
- LinAGKar 4y agoMaybe there should be a maximum height for the headlights, so if someone makes a tall car they have to mount the headlights lower on the grill.
- floren 4y agoI expect inspection requirements to be eliminated going forward, rather than tightened, due to the standard government mantra: "This policy may disproportionately impact disadvantaged and minority communities". Personally I'm guessing that California has about another 5 years before smog testing goes away.
- scottyah 4y agoYou think woke will beat corrupt/lobbying? I have an older car that needs the smog check every year, and for the last 5 years that's entailed paying a mechanic the better half of a thousand dollars to get the check engine light to go away (for the same issue) each time. The whole thing is an utter scam that only the poor people deal with. I don't think being poor makes you a minority in this country, except in the offices where the laws are being made.
- floren 4y agoWashington state eliminated smog testing a couple years ago. I'm not sure how big the smog test station operator's lobby is, and if the state determines that having smog testing is a net drain on the budget, they'll eventually eliminate it. Whether they say "it's too expensive for us to run", "cars are way cleaner these days", or "we're doing this for poor people" remains to be seen. Now, I don't know if California makes or loses money on smog testing (does the state get a cut?), but I'm still guessing it's going to go away at some point before too long.
- dsfyu404ed 4y ago> paying a mechanic the better half of a thousand dollars to get the check engine light to go away (for the same issue) each time. The whole thing is an utter scam that only the poor people deal with. And a hell of a lot of people as well as the entire insurance industry want to economically incentivize those people to stop driving (for both good and bad reasons) so they're on the same side. Every dealer and manufacturer wants to sell cars so they'll also be on that side.
- dsfyu404ed 4y agoSafety inspection will do zero to solve a problem that is dominated by new vehicles that are working as intended. Lights these days are just crazy bright yet within the current federal specs for where light can be shined and where on the vehicle it can be shined from. You might kick a few cars with shitty flickering bottom dollar LED bulbs off the road but that's a small slice of the overall problem pie.