Vehicle inspections likely to vanish

Texas legislators have approved a bill to eliminate annual vehicle safety inspections, meaning automobile registration renewals would never again be contingent on the state of a motorist’s windshield wipers or fuel cap.

The Texas Senate passed House Bill 3297, authored by state Rep. Cody Harris, R-Palestine, on Sunday. The bill just needs Gov. Greg Abbott’s signature to eliminate the safety inspection for non-commercial vehicles in Texas.

To offset any blow to state finances, the proposal replaces the $7.50 state inspection fee with a fee paid with the vehicle’s registration. Drivers will save the $7 cut that inspection stations pocketed.

The new law would take effect Sept. 1, ushering in the biggest change to vehicle registration since state officials linked registration and annual inspections to a single sticker placed on the windshields of Texas cars and trucks in 2015. The state has 22 million registered vehicles.

“This legislation touches more Texans than nearly anything that will come out of the Legislature,” former GOP state Sen. Don Huffines of Dallas said in a social media post.

Nixing the safety check, however, does not end emission testing, which is required for all vehicles in 17 counties, including most of the Houston and Dallas metro areas, Austin and El Paso. Nearly 17 million people, more than half of the state’s population, live in those counties.

Conservatives, who for years have said Texas does not need safety inspections as most states have eliminated them and called the requirements government overreach, cheered the decision.

For residents in 237 counties, it eliminates a rite of passage — literally and figuratively — when registering a vehicle. As part of the safety inspection, overseen by the Texas Department of Public Safety, a mechanic certified by the state verifies several features, from the vehicle’s brake lights and turn signals to the condition of its windshield wipers and the sealing capability of its gas cap.

Under current state law, a vehicle must pass a safety inspection to be registered in Texas.

Mechanics and others opposed eliminating of the inspections, saying it would lead to potentially dangerous situations on Texas roadways when more cars do not receive a proper once-over and even more pollution from poorly maintained vehicles.

“If (the bill) passes, we will see an escalation of vehicles on our roadways that cannot pass a basic safety inspection,” Cpl. Mike Bradburn, of the Travis County Constable Precinct Three Clean Air Task Force, told lawmakers when HB 3297 received a public hearing on April 11. “If a vehicle cannot pass a basic safety inspection, it would be reasonable to believe it would not pass an emissions test leading to more pollutants in the air.”

Studies of states that have stopped safety checks on vehicles, however, show little impact on overall roadway safety. After federal rules allowed states to lift the inspections in the 1970s, most stopped doing in-person examinations, preferring that police to use their discretion to assess a vehicle during a traffic stop if they suspected a problem. Only 13 states still conduct annual inspections.

Still, those involved in conducting the inspections and selling cars and trucks have supported continuing them. Auto dealers said they are valuable so owners know about important recalls, which are often tied to the state’s vehicle database. dug.begley@houstonchronicle.com