Inspection: An Industry Mandate
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John Cochrane, technician, successful jobber, and veteran of the Right to Repair wars, noted in his acceptance speech for a much deserved Distinguished Service Award from the AIA that the time is right to push for mandatory motor vehicle inspections.
“When I started in the automotive industry in the ’60s, it was primarily a breakdown industry. It was not uncommon to have engine, automatic transmission, and rear axle failures on a regular basis. Tune-ups were done spring and fall. Lube, oil, and filter changes were done every 90 days or 3,000 miles. This was the bread and butter of the shop. The shop saw his client at least three or four times a year.
“The industry dynamics have changed radically. The manufacturers’ scheduled tune-up on many vehicles has moved to 160,000 km. Points, rotors, caps, condensers are all gone, and in many cases wires have also disappeared. That means if a person drives 20,000 km a year it is going to be eight years before the vehicle is going to get any kind of tune-up work.” And maybe one or two oil changes a year–and not necessarily at a service garage.
Those who have been in the aftermarket for some time can be forgiven if they sigh at the suggestion of mandatory vehicle inspections. It has, after all, been a Holy Grail of sorts for decades.
There are a few notable exceptions, of course. Only New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia ever mandated regular safety inspections.
However, when the movement to reduce vehicle emissions reached its most vigorous point, a handful of jurisdictions in North America launched emissions inspection programs, and these have acted as a check against the worst-maintained vehicles on the road, since you can’t test a vehicle on a dyno if the wheels are about to fall off. And, of course, there were the emission-related repairs that were really the point of it all. But in Canada, only B.C.’s Lower Mainland AirCare and Ontario’s Drive Clean programs ever got off the ground.
It has been this way for some time. Despite some talk in the past of expanding emissions testing programs to formally include safety items, there is no momentum. Even the existing programs have been under fire with the rising presence and sophistication of onboard diagnostics.
As Cochrane says though, that was then, this is now.
In the early days, the push for regular, mandated motor vehicle inspections was the result of the fact that many components would fail in a short time, with potentially disastrous results. Today, the problem is nearly the opposite: a car can run on and on without an apparent failure until, wham, major, multiple, expensive failures occur.
I don’t know if a push for mandatory annual inspections is the way to go–a program in New Jersey is currently under threat of elimination–or if we should simply hammer away at consumer awareness, but I do know that there is a need to counteract the service trend that can see vehicles run for years between garage visits.
That’s just not healthy, for consumers or their pocketbooks. I guess my advice is push for a government-mandated program, but do not wait for it. Everyone in this industry knows what they have to do.
This industry owes itself and its customers a thorough inspection as part of every service occasion. Every shop you sell should have its own mandatory inspection program– government lobbying be damned.
Andrew Ross, Publisher and Editor
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