I used to hate getting my car inspected.  Why?  Because I had an older car!  I loved my 1981 Nissan 280ZX, but the state hated it.

There are two parts to state inspections in Houston.  The first is the safety inspection.  Basically the goal is to make sure your car is not going to be a safety hazard, either to you, your passengers, or the occupants of other cars on the road.  To this end, the safety inspection involves checking the headlights, tail lights, turn signals, safety belts, brakes, and power steering.  The failure of any one of these components can place you and others in danger, so in order for your car to pass the inspection all systems need to be operating in tip-top shape.

The other part of the safety inspection is an emissions test.  The purpose is to keep our air clean and our pollution levels down, so your exhaust needs to contain no more than a certain amount of pollutants, such as carbon monoxide.  The levels that are allowed are usually determined by how clean the car was meant to run when it was made — in other words, you only need to keep the car running the way it was meant to run.

What happens if you don’t pass?  Well, you’ll need to have repairs made to bring the car back into compliance.  i.e. If you have brake problems, you’ll need to seek out a Houston brake repair shop, and if your tail lights or turn signals don’t work, you’ll have to replace the bulbs and/or flashers to get them working again.

As a do-it-yourselfer, I always tried to handle these repairs myself, which is probably why I hated inspection time so darn much.  For people who take their cars to a domestic or Asian automotive repair shop, it’s not that big of a deal — maybe a little more expensive, but at least they don’t have to go through the trouble and stress of figuring out and fixing the problems themselves!

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