State inspection results in car being taken off the road because of rust?

[Sedin26]

I'm not sure if I already replied after my last PA State inspection. I know they didn't do the safety inspection because the paperwork said 10/32 for brakes front and rear (they're almost gone I need to address this coming week as I'm off), and, on the stickers (can you believe it in 2023) there are no boxes X'd for wheels pulled. My $29.95 coupon is now $47 out the door. I think the shop offers inspections to generate repairs, but, if a car isn't going to do that, it's a waste of their time to collect $40 something and tie up a tech nit picking things, so out the door with stickers it goes.

imho emissions is different as they plug in to the Commonwealth's computer for 1996+.

From a coworker it's easy to buy stickers where he lives, again, with computers invented and deployed in the 80's, there's no reason for that. Then, what is silly, is there can be 4 color combinations on valid stickers. Can LE really remember all that? Not to mention legit stickers are fabricated by the shop. It's like having foxes watching hen houses.

PA may not be a good point of reference as it's the wild west anyway. No reggie, no insurance, no exterior legible tag, no DL, 5% tints. Pulled over? Allowed to go on with some tix. I think we can do better, but maybe we cannot. With all the loopholes, 95% of people are on the up and up, just a number I made up and think could be correct. I don't know anyone who openly cheats on state inspections, people just pay the money and get it over with. But why have a system if 5% can cheat is what I'm thinking.

On South Main Auto’s channel he gets stuff in all the time that has been passed by other shops but is absolutely rotted out.

Apparently fly by night shops will sell inspection stickers and the state won’t crack down on them because they only operate at night and no inspectors work at that time.

 

[dnewton3]

Any inspection process is only as good (or bad) as those applying it.
Like most things in life, good intentions have a way of turning into bad effects, even malfeasance.

The concept of mandatory inspections is not without merit. The intent would be to assure safe equipment on the road so as to not endanger others. (If you want to kill yourself by the hand of your own stupidity, that's fine by me, but you don't have a right to take out my wife or child, or damage my property, based on your lack of concern for safe vehicle condition).

Unfortunately, many "inspection" services tended to veer too lax, or too strict:
- "Don't worry about that rust all along the frame where your suspension control arms mount; it ain't fallen off yet there, Bubba. I'll take my $10 "fee" now. "
- "Ma'am, I cannot pass your vehicle because your wiper blade has a small quarter-inch nick near the tip; it may cause a violent crash if you cannot see in a blinding rainstorm. If you buy a new $38 wiper blade from us today I can get your vehicle passed right here and now. And we offer free installation!"

Many states which had state inspections got rid of them. They were ineffectual the majority of the time because either unsafe vehicles were passing when they shouldn't, or reasonably safe vehicles were coerced into unnecessary repairs.



However, there are some very scary examples of vehicles being road driven which absolutely, without doubt, should be removed from service. All one has to do is go to the YT channel called "Just Rolled In" and I assure you with absolute certainty that if you randomly select 5 videos from their catalog, at least 4 will have multiple examples of vehicles so horrendously unsafe it boggles the mind. And yet many of those owners refuse service and drive away to endanger themselves and others.

 

[c502cid]

Yet how many people who are strongly in favor of inspections get into their car because "I just had a couple of beers, I'm fine"

 

[John105]

In PA Reggie and proof of insurance required, in order to complete the inspection.

I would ask is that the right juncture to be checking such things? Whereas when pulled over by LE, lacking those things doesn’t result in a tow and no more driving. It was the case in NYS and MA when I was in college as have seen friends’ vehicles towed for expired tags.

It’s been 9-12 years since I had the feeling of 0% chance of not passing…we need to get that feeling back soon (new car).

 

[Gus_Mahn]

No inspections here and I’m good with it. We do have an over abundance of under skilled over confident, or distracted drivers. I was in a fatal accident in my 20’s. A drunk 16 year old was the cause and the one who died. At that point I realized you can be taken out at any moment by situations beyond your control. I accept it as a price we or our loved ones may wind up paying for being a free and mobile people.

 

[2013ecof150]

Here in northern Va you really don’t see many junk passenger vehicles that wouldn’t pass a safety inspection. Maybe the occasional clapped out work truck but it’s not super common.

However dump trucks are another story. So many of them with swiss cheese bodies that leak whatever they are hauling. Many of those guys are terrible drivers as well. So many of those trucks have “ paid for “ inspection stickers it’s unreal.

 

[TimeFlies]

Here in northern Va you really don’t see many junk passenger vehicles that wouldn’t pass a safety inspection. Maybe the occasional clapped out work truck but it’s not super common.

However dump trucks are another story. So many of them with swiss cheese bodies that leak whatever they are hauling. Many of those guys are terrible drivers as well. So many of those trucks have “ paid for “ inspection stickers it’s unreal.

Must be a regional thing.
I see gravel trucks all the time, and they are all in good condition. As far as I know, and truckers talk, no shop around will pass a junker. The risk of being caught is too large, and not worth it. When my logging truck was only 6 months old it went for inspection, and the shop checked everything, almost to the point of being annoying.

 

[cronk]

I've worked as a parts guy in repair shops for over 20 years in northern NY.
We have an annual state safety and emissions inspection.
It is fairly common to have to fail vehicles for rust.
Any rust through in structural things like frames, suspension components, subframes, or structural parts of a unibody car or suspension mounting points is a failure.
Rusted out gas tank straps and brake lines are pretty common to see as well.

It sucks to see good cars die early from rot, NY treats the roads with not only salt but liquid brine and it is really nasty to cars.
Unfortunately have seen cars rotted out and unsafe at 10-12 years old.

 

[TimeFlies]

I've worked as a parts guy in repair shops for over 20 years in northern NY.
We have an annual state safety and emissions inspection.
It is fairly common to have to fail vehicles for rust.
Any rust through in structural things like frames, suspension components, subframes, or structural parts of a unibody car or suspension mounting points is a failure.
Rusted out gas tank straps and brake lines are pretty common to see as well.

It sucks to see good cars die early from rot, NY treats the roads with not only salt but liquid brine and it is really nasty to cars.
Unfortunately have seen cars rotted out and unsafe at 10-12 years old.

Would an annual spray of a rust preventer help?

We don't have the rust issue here, like some places do.

 

[cronk]

Would an annual spray of a rust preventer help?

We don't have the rust issue here, like some places do.

Some of the annual treatments seem to help, like Rust Check and Krown.

 

[vavavroom]

Vehicles with compromised structural integrity or an unusually hazardous exterior, missing bumpers, jagged parts/sheet metal sticking out, etc, don't belong on public roads. My neighbor broke a tie rod going over the 1-inch curb of his driveway which caused him to run into his walI. He was lucky he didn't take out a bicyclist or a whole family in another vehicle. I looked at the tie rod and it was rusted out. That particular tetanus bomber was a 2000 Grand Marquis. The body looked great, the chassis looked like Swiss cheese.

 

[1 SX]

Please do not bring your 60K mile Subarus that look like this to me. Unfortunately this one is a NY insp FAIL - all because the front subframe is about to snap in TWO!. The rest of this Subaru looked GREAT for the late 2000's year it was.

 

[JDenyer232]

Yearly here in Maine and they are pretty strict. They check tread depth, brake pad thickness, rotor thickness, they shake the wheels to check for suspension or wheel bearing issues. They check to make sure the cat is there, they check for rust holes, leaky shocks and struts, brake rotor condition, obdII must pass, tire pressure monitor must function correctly etc. I got failed a year ago for some rust pitting on the backside of the front rotors. The pitting was not major at all so I took it to another shop and they failed it for the same thing. I ended up just doing the pads and rotors to get is passed. They also look for oil leaks and can fail you for that as well. In Maine, the inspection law is very specific in stating that anything that comes with the vehicle when new must function. Garages love it up here as it drums up lots of work. Dealers advertise free state inspections for life when you buy one of their vehicles just to get you in the shop.

There has been talk of doing away with the inspections or changing them to every 2 years. Personally I would be fine with no inspections on a new car for the first five years, then every other year after that.

 

[crashz]

Funny this came up. NH just passed a bill to stop vehicle inspections, beginning in January 2026. The claim is that it is a hardship for residents and they are routinely gouged by repair shops. While I always found inspection time to be a bit stressful, I also feel like its well worth it. For me it was a good second set of eyes on everything.

I won't be surprised if inspections come back. I expect to see to horrifying sights on the road...

 

[JDenyer232]

Funny this came up. NH just passed a bill to stop vehicle inspections, beginning in January 2026. The claim is that it is a hardship for residents and they are routinely gouged by repair shops. While I always found inspection time to be a bit stressful, I also feel like its well worth it. For me it was a good second set of eyes on everything.

I won't be surprised if inspections come back. I expect to see to horrifying sights on the road...

I don't mind the inspection itself, it's just that in maine it has gotten to the point that that they nitpick even things that are not safety related. Visible fluid anywhere under the car, even from a minor leak that is not dripping can be a fail. Some garages are better than others in not being so picky. Being in the rust belt I feel that there should be some inspections, just not for maybe the first 5 years then yearly or every other year after that. Just recently a woman I work with was quoted $1700 for a new exhaust because of a "hole" in the muffler. I went out and took a look and the hole they pointed out to her was the drain hole. I told her to take it back and either get the money back for the inspection or demand the sticker. They told her no refund and no sticker. I went back with her and told them refund the money or I would bring the car and paper work to the state police who run the inspection program and have them look at it. What do you know, they put a sticker on it and sent her on her way.

 

[Jetronic]

Yet how many people who are strongly in favor of inspections get into their car because "I just had a couple of beers, I'm fine"

which people who are not never ever do....

 

[97prizm]

Can you point me to any statistic that tells me this makes us safer? There was another thread on this board recently - no one there could.

The vast majority of accidents are human error. The few that are not are typically environmental - ie black ice, etc.

It's revenue driven. Alot of states are finally ditching their emissions testing as well, I wish Colorado would do it. At this point it isn't about clean air it's revenue generating

 

[Donald]

In NY many shops were "state inspection stations". They plugged in gas vehicles into OBDII. But not diesel. For diesel they just looked for no CEL. They checked the basics of lights, horn, wipers.

Some of the chains also did inspections and would rip at a wiper blade until it fell apart and then say you needed a wiper blade at 2X the normal cost

In DE it's a state inspection and they plug in the OBDII, have you stop for brake equalization test and then the basics of horn, wipers, lights.

 

[repairman54]

In NJ a new vehicle gets a sticker good for 5 years. After that it's a 2 year sticker. OBD plug in and lights, horn and wipers working that's it for the state facility inspection. They may give a visual on the tires. Only rust fail is for sharp edges. 200 mph tape fixes that. No motorcycle inspections anymore either.
PA is the worst for rust at inspection. Had a friend get failed on a pickup for a small rust hole in the radiator support, not bad enough to even remotely degrade structural integrity, rest of it was OK, just surface rust.
Here in NY fenders can be flapping but at least they fail for bad frames as shown previously.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

I got to get an inspection on a newish vehicle. At this point I am thinking why bother.
Maybe one last time for the memories. They goes my 40 buck lunch money with the BF ...