street legal?

[seaweed]

Hi! Since I'm from Sweden and never been in USA yet, I have a question about your vehicle.
Do you have some sort of regular car inspection that go over your car about street safety every year?
In Sweden we must do a contrition every year on our car's to check the street safety, and if it not passed then you cant drive it until you have fix it.
But when i watch Occ and Westcoast on Discovery they seems to build very crazy things and drive it in traffic.
Have seen some product on Summit that Say's "Not street legal in some state". who notice that? and what happends if your car is illegal when pulled over?

[Mike DC]

It depends on which state of the USA you are in.  The requirements range from essentially nothing to a moderate safety check.  In my opinion all the states have pretty basic requirements.  I have heard of much stricter rules in other countries. 

The USA mainly keeps its roads safe by imposing strict rules on new cars being produced at the factories.  21st century cars must meet VERY strict safety standards for example.  They must also meet a lot of pollution control standards.   

But once the car is sold and owned by a private citizen, the government does very little to recheck it.  The yearly inspectors just make sure it has working lights, flashers seatbelts, mirrors, etc.  Cosmetic problems (or modifications) generally are allowed as long as they don't pose obvious severe safety threats to other cars.  If you want to drive a car with an engine that runs roughly, missing body panels, a few cracks in the windscreen, etc . . . the govt does not stop you in most states.   

Pollution requirements - the govt basically requires a car to meet the rules in place when it was built.  For a vehicle from the 1970s or older that usually means no rules whatsoever.  For a modern vehicle in the last 10-15 years the rules have become much more strict and they limit modifications. 



If a police officer sees you driving a car with something obviously illegal (a brake light that is not working for example), the officer will stop you and issue you a ticket for a small fine.  But there is normally no action taken against the car itself.  If you keep driving the car with broken parts for the rest of the year (it must pass inspection again next year), the police will just keep writing you repeated tickets for the problem until you either get it fixed or you accumulate enough tickets to lose your drivers license.   

[TruckDriver]

If a police officer sees you driving a car with something obviously illegal (a brake light that is not working for example), the officer will stop you and issue you a ticket for a small fine.  But there is normally no action taken against the car itself.  If you keep driving the car with broken parts for the rest of the year (it must pass inspection again next year), the police will just keep writing you repeated tickets for the problem until you either get it fixed or you accumulate enough tickets to lose your drivers license.    

Well, that's kinda true. Here in Wisconsin anyway (not sure of the other states), they will issue a 5 or 10 day warning ticket depending on the problem they are giving you the ticket for (like overly loud exhaust), and or the officer that stopped you. But then you have either the 5 or 10 days to take the car to the police station, and show them that the item in question, has been corrected. If so, then you do not have to pay a fine. If the problem is not corrected, THEN you will get a ticket, and have another 5 days or so to fix the problem. I have seen the police here, pull over 4 wheel drive pickup trucks, that were lifted with a lift kit, because they were to high. And the owners were made to lower them to a reasonable height. And welcome to the site 

[Tilar]

Personally I think they should be inspected every year as long as they don't get real carried away with it.

Texas has an annual inspection you have to do and depending on the county determines how intense they are. Most are easy and you're in and out in 5 minutes or less. Lights, tires, horn and wipers all need to work and thats about it. $8.50 or something like that.

Ohio does random inspections along the side of the road, You go around the corner and there they are but your car does not have to be inspected every year and it's free.

New York goes way overboard with their inspections and you make an appointment and leave your car or sit in the waiting room for a while. I'm thinking the one in New York can run you $100 a year or more.

[404NOTFOUND]

Here in Ontario Canada, there's no re-inspection at all. You could drive a car forever with the frame broken in half and a leaking gas tank as long as nobody notices. In Toronto on rare occasion, the government will set up a mobile inspection station in a parking lot. They then send out cops on motorcycles to hunt down old cars. At the end of the day, there is a row of parked, older cars with the plates removed.

[nvrbdn]

in illinois if you buy a car, you take the title in. they give you plates. thats it. it is your responsibility to see that the car is safe. they never look at it . if a cop sees something wrong with it, he will give you a ticket.

[Dino]

Ah yes, good ole' Europe and their overly anal car inspections!  I grew up in Belgium and every year the inspection was like an adventure.  If you got in within the hour it was a good day, inspection itself didn't take long but if even you headlight was off by a fraction you would not pass.  I forgot how much it cost but it was plenty.  When you didn't pass you had two weeks to fix it and come back, for another fee of course. 

Here in Michigan you just drive the car and that's it, no inspection at all, not even if you buy another car, they don't even have to see it.  I see cars drive around here that are half eaten up by rust but nobody cares.

[BrianShaughnessy]

New York goes way overboard with their inspections and you make an appointment and leave your car or sit in the waiting room for a while. I'm thinking the one in New York can run you $100 a year or more.

Incorrect.   Whether or not you have to leave it depends on where you go.    Most repair shops also have inspectors.

Classic / historic blah blah like 69 Charger.  $10.   Tires, lights, horn. etc.

OBD1 is supposed to be $16.  Or at least it was.  But  Basic safety check and visual emissions check ( ie: is the cat conv. there ).

OBD2 is $21 upstate.   New York City Metro area is $37.   Basic hookup to networked scan for MIL, etc.  and  basic safety check and visual emissions check.

There's some new deal for brand new cars but I don't own any of those to remember.   

Is it overboard?  Somewhat.   I'd think every 2 years like registration would suffice myself but the state gets a % of the stickers and the shops like to rip people off for a taillight bulb or some other repairs. 

[seaweed]

Here they check the brake's (must hit similar on right/left, including handbrake).
tire's must be at least 3mm's left.
Front and rear suspension and all balljoint's.
Rust on the frame and on brake's and the hitch.
Seatbelt, crack in window, airbagwarning light's etc, etc,
and offcourse all the other light's.

But you can built a 1000hp car and make it pass, but it's allot of work and regulation.
It's not all bad with this car-rape, When I'm out driving, I don't want to meet people whit no brake and other dangerous feature.

[lukedukem]

Personally I think they should be inspected every year as long as they don't get real carried away with it.

Texas has an annual inspection you have to do and depending on the county determines how intense they are. Most are easy and you're in and out in 5 minutes or less. Lights, tires, horn and wipers all need to work and thats about it. $8.50 or something like that.

Ohio does random inspections along the side of the road, You go around the corner and there they are but your car does not have to be inspected every year and it's free.

New York goes way overboard with their inspections and you make an appointment and leave your car or sit in the waiting room for a while. I'm thinking the one in New York can run you $100 a year or more.

i wish it were only 8.50 here in texas but its 14.50. in florida there is not one. my brothers car came from there and it didn't have the horn or reverse lights working.
luke

[Tilar]

Personally I think they should be inspected every year as long as they don't get real carried away with it.

Texas has an annual inspection you have to do and depending on the county determines how intense they are. Most are easy and you're in and out in 5 minutes or less. Lights, tires, horn and wipers all need to work and thats about it. $8.50 or something like that.

Ohio does random inspections along the side of the road, You go around the corner and there they are but your car does not have to be inspected every year and it's free.

New York goes way overboard with their inspections and you make an appointment and leave your car or sit in the waiting room for a while. I'm thinking the one in New York can run you $100 a year or more.

i wish it were only 8.50 here in texas but its 14.50. in florida there is not one. my brothers car came from there and it didn't have the horn or reverse lights working.
luke

Come to think about it the last one I had inspected in Texas was my S10 and it was back in 06 so I'm sure it is higher now.

[FLG]

Yep here in NY its pretty easy, for the older cars its just horn, lights..ect but most of the time they just slap the sicker on. And usually you know a "guy" who for a fee will pass a car that would otherwise fail (if you deleted your cat for example, and would fail emissions, or you have check engine light on..ect) you throw em some cash and they look the other way.

[Cooter]

Here in Va., we have annual inspections. Of which, I'm a Certified inspector.
Sure, you Could build a 1000 HP car and TRY to get through State inspection, but unless it has ALOT of money invested in suspension components that meet or EXCEED the factory strength and safety, it fails. If ONE part of the suspension/tires hits the body/frame it fails. So that Pro Street car that sits 1" off the ground and takes a 50 acre field to turn it around in? No go....

This is true ESPECIALLY when I see Nissan 240's with LS V8's in 'em. No go.
If it wasn't offered as an option, it fails. So no BBC 454's in S-10 pick ups Looking for a sticker.

If the frame is rusted out (Like we see with alot of the Liberty University Kids and those dang northern cars), it fails. As far as rusty panels on the car? No problem, as long as it isn't flapping in the wind.

The really bad ones are the young guns that think they can buy that older 1986 IROC Camaro, let their father talk them into dumping in that full race LSX V8 putting out 550 HP. No smog pump, no emission tubes from exhaust manifolds, No EGR on that Edelbrock "Victor" Manifold, Full length (Illeagal) Dual exhausts when it came with a "Y" pipe and ONE cat converter, Modified suspension as to run HUGE wheels that come in contact with the frame/suspension/body when making turns, Big 'ol honkin' 8-71 Blower sticking up through the hood, or illeagal hood scoops that are over 2 1/4" high, Monster tach mounted directly in front of driver's vision, "Strobe" lighting in headlights/tail lights/side markers, Those stupid "Clear" lenses that are NOT DOT approved, etc.

These kind simply think they can run the "Antique" tags here and drive it every day. Go right ahead. There's one state trooper here that if he finds over TWO minor violations, he pulls your tags. Your done until it's repaired properly. Excessive? Possibly..

But alas, for every inspector doing this correctly, there are three that will put an illeagal sticker on an illeagal car. If they get caught more than three times, they lose their station's license, their driver's license, and if there was an accident involved, the state police will NOT back them in cival court.

Wanna run that 3" Flowmaster exhaust with "Dumps" underneath that car? No go. Must exit the car.
Wanna run full length straight pipes? Sure, as long as there are NO LEAKS. But, as soon as you hit the street, you are subject to a ticket for noise not safety.

[Tilar]

Yep here in NY its pretty easy, for the older cars its just horn, lights..ect but most of the time they just slap the sicker on. And usually you know a "guy" who for a fee will pass a car that would otherwise fail (if you deleted your cat for example, and would fail emissions, or you have check engine light on..ect) you throw em some cash and they look the other way.

I just remembered going through that estate up there and came across some recent receipts for inspections, which is where I got my above figure from... I don't remember anything else on the paperwork which is why I figured they were all that high.