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The Coles notes of the story is that 2 months after a safety inspection the elderly driver heard a “pop”, the car crashed, killing is wife. The authorities are charging that the mechanic in question falsified the last inspection in 2014 even after suggesting brake line replacement in 2013.
Just something to consider the next time someone offers you $20 to just pass a car.
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Too bad the article doesn’t go into the actual VT regulations. It didn’t even actually say what the “pop” point of failure was, just eludes to a brake line failure. There were many remarks about how rusty the car was, but not saying what regulations had ever been violated in passing the car. I can tell you that NY regulations that I work with have little concept of vehicle safety and by no means guarantee that a passing car won’t suffer a serous rust-related failure in the near future (only check that the suspension mounting points are not perforated by rust at time of inspection).
In NY the law reads on brakes, that no component can be leaking, seized, broken, or missing. Also that brake pads/linings only fail if the metal backing touches a rotor or drum or if the lining has become unbonded from the backing plate. Rotors fail if thickness is below the minimum spec or if there is “distortion/scoring that impairs braking performance”. Other than saying all that passed, you are prompted to state that you removed at least one wheel during inspection OR used an “approved brake tester”. The only such device I’ve ever seen was mounted in the floor and resembled a car/truck scale like I’ve used when bringing a load of scrap to the scrapyard. I was told that you drove a car onto it at a certain (low) speed and applied the brakes to stop with all four wheels on the device. It was not demonstrated at the time (was doing a shop tour during job interview).
The words “corrosion” and “rust” do not appear in the section related to brakes, and I was told during my class to get my inspection license that it’s against the law for me to fail a car for any reason not stated in the regulations no matter how unsafe I believe the condition to be. Needless to say, the shiny-shoed gov’t folks that thought all this up didn’t have much experience with broken cars. Based on the regulations, I am to break every single brake line/hose fitting loose and retighten it at both ends, then compress all the calipers and slide pins and R+R all the pads to inspect the linings. That’s also just to satisfy the brake section. There is also another regulation that states that you must charge only $21 for a safety/emissions inspection. Each windshield sticker costs the inspection facility $8 of that amount, as well. Things starting to sound ridiculous yet?
I’m at least glad that my shop would not ask me to pass a car that failed for safety reasons, only the family’s rice rocket buddies that remove their catalytic converters to make their cars as obnoxiously loud as possible. The sad thing is with those deals, neither the customer or their friend I work for who want to help him out ever even mentions a bribe for asking me to break the law. Inspecting a cat-deleted car can result in $10,000 fines to the facility and the inspector if they want to make an example of the situation. As you may be able to tell, I’m not willing to get involved with those deals.
Anyway, off to work to for another day of legally slapping the state’s seal of approval on filthy neglected rust buckets!
The PA states inspection is actually pretty all encompassing. Not perfect mind you as you can have a 4×4 as your bumper. It also states in several spots or that would make the vehicle unsafe to drive. Giving you some leeway though if they want they can call someone in from the state and over rule you.
It’s tragic as can be but I’m having a hard time seeing the mechanic charged with manslaughter.
Oklahoma used to have a vehicle safety inspection program and it was a joke. It was 2 bucks to begin with (mechanic gets 1) eventually raised to 5 and the mechanic gets 2. The inspection is supposed to take an hour, pull wheels, etc, etc. Think any mechanic is going to work for 2 bucks an hour?
I’m sure Vermont is similar and the same points would be raised by customers.
1. You’re doing an inspection just so you can find stuff wrong and screw me out of a lot of repair money.
2. Why can’t you just go ahead and put a sticker on it? I’m driving it home and parking it until I get the money to fix it.
3.I don’t believe my car needs all of that. I insist that you just patch it enough to get me by.In the case of Oklahoma I had to go through a recertification one time and the regulations for checking and failing a cracked windshield was 2 fine print pages. I could not understand any of it.
So I asked the DPS guy doing the recert if HE understood any of it. He was silent for a moment, gave a faint grin, and said that no, he couldn’t grasp it either .In the VT case I wonder if the pop was a failed ball joint, tie rod end, strut, engine mount, etc and which in turn caused the brake line to give up
[quote=”Bluesnut” post=145058]It’s tragic as can be but I’m having a hard time seeing the mechanic charged with manslaughter.
In the VT case I wonder if the pop was a failed ball joint, tie rod end, strut, engine mount, etc and which in turn caused the brake line to give up[/quote]
I was thinking the same thing pretty much, the pop seems like it would be more like an inner or outer tie rod, resulting loss of steering = crash. never heard a brake line “pop” personally but then again how often do you witness a brake line failing.
I’m glad we’re discussing this, it seems that wherever and whenever jobbers (or even those adjacent) the only thing that seems consistent with inspections is that nobody has come close to figuring it the fuck out. Let’s load every document up with enough legal jargon to drown a horse.
In my province, shops are allowed to charge $55 for the initial and the re-inspection is free for 30 days, unless a wheel has to come off. Then you can charge $20. It’s supposed to take about an hour. I compare it to a house built to minimum code. No, it shouldn’t fall apart risking peoples lives for a few months, but that’s the only guarantee. Oh, the average shop rate is in excess of $100 an hour. Then as u/Bluesnut referenced, you have to pay for the legal document itself, or a seal of some sort. The tech, the shops certification, the tech’s certification (depending on the circumstance). The pricing wasn’t all that bad when the program started 20 years ago (maybe a few years either way). But you really want a business to take work on for half the income? Then you have the nerve to wonder why or how these programs become diluted with bullshit certifications? The only way to make money on them is to be crooked one way or another. Either your speed through the inspection to finish it in a profitable manner, or you have to sell a bunch of unnecessary crap.
The shitty part is that the various inspection/certification programs in place seem to be set up against the consumer, the very people they are designed to protect. I’m not even talking about an individual getting a BS certification, but the other people on the road who have and we have to share the road with them. Or, at least around here, the police use it as a tool to monetarily punish people with modified cars. Instead of flagging cars with rusted out rockers that you can see from a mile away they scrutinize people on Sunday nights. Not that I’m pro improperly modified cars, but let’s use it to go after cars that are severely unsafe instead of those with no baffles in the muffler.
People hate it when I do PMs, DOT Inspection, PDIs, and unfortunately I have yet to really use my Inspection License but, like 2-3 times before I moved to VA. I am that guy that will write everything down that is wrong. I regularly fail DOT for Big Rigs for having broken or missing 3 triangle kit, low / no charge or out of date fire extinguisher and cracks in front of the drivers window. Then normally another tech will say he fixed these things and pass the truck 5 mins after I am done but, my name is not on it. I had one where I had to threaten my boss I would call the state troopers to inspect the vehicle if he did that to it. There was something wrong with the steering or brakes on the steer axle. He looked at me and laughed I gave him the most stern look he called up the customer and told him exactly what i said while i was standing there then the problem got fixed. Had another one where only the parking brake worked and the pads were 1/32nd from the steel rivets.Regular brakes were seized in the open position and it was on a tow truck of all things. Luckily I didn’t have to fight my boss on that one. But, customer didn’t want to fix it and that time he threatened to call the state troopers on them.
I failed my first state inspection because they had dice on the rear view mirror told them to remove them and then I passed it. They then put it right back on after they left the shop. You may be asking why I didn’t remove it and I will tell you I already had 2 rear view mirrors fall down just using the lift I was not looking for number 3.
I have seen some really crazy stuff in only 2 years working on big rigs. Some people will do anything to keep a truck running and then when it comes in and needs everything they want to complain.
As for the guy getting charged for manslaughter they will have one hell of a time proving those parts were bad at the time of inspection. I doubt he will get convicted even if he does deserve it. In my opinion if you have a problem with what you are getting paid doing state inspection get a petition going and send emails to all the shops in the area and then petition the state. This can easily be done with the online petition websites out there. If you do make sure you get a good base rate and have it so the base rate increases with cost of living increases. The other thing is if you think your state needs a revamped inspection code write one up and do the online petition. I will tell you that written petitions carry more weight but, trying to get 100,000 signatures on paper is going to take a while.
hard to say, does it actually say that he passed vehicle under the table or what? i had seen a case of school bus mechanic that passed without taking wheels off that should be checked over.
here in CAN, sort of funny thing that i know some provinces allow vehicle as long as they has brakes and steering working…they figure you can stop and steer away from rest of road users…whoodeedoo…you pass inspection…whether you have motor or tranny in it.
probably that mechanic’s employer put him out to dry…nice…typical
i had a mechanic friend…told his employer when asked to pass vehicle…for a one year wage for payment so that when he can’t find work for passing that vehicle for while…at least he would have money to start over…company declined….Documents will show the customer declined service, and that caused his crash. People always look to blame someone else for their fuck ups. That old piece of shit is no different.
[quote=”Pitt” post=145305]Documents will show the customer declined service, and that caused his crash. People always look to blame someone else for their fuck ups. That old piece of shit is no different.[/quote]
they are not just declined services..gov’t inspection stuff…i guess mechanic didn’t want to d-k about it but, you have to.
but, they are doing gov’t inspection….as far as i am concerned, i rather fail vehicles and people tell me i am anal about inspection…don’t care…
if you see something that should taken off road, do it…fill it out…gov’t would back me up…most of indy shop in my area would get money under the table and pass vehicles..our system is that gov’t insurance has each vin for out of province inspection sheet…actually at classroom they even discussed about a-hole customer that would keep going shop to shop until someone passes them…gov’t has every single one of those inspection…you better hope you didn’t miss anything..
you fail it and put explanation why it failed…based spec, safety failure or whatever…whenever unsure fail them…don’t like it…too bad there’s the door.
[quote=”kevk62″ post=145329]whenever unsure fail them…don’t like it…too bad there’s the door.[/quote]
It’s a great theory that I completely agree with, but in New York State there is no option to do that. I can be fined/suspended/revoked for failing a obviously unsafe car that passes inspection just as much as for passing a failing car. Of course that won’t happen in either case unless someone calls DMV into the situation, but the risk of failing a passing car is almost as much as passing a failing car.
In Can, we have a manual that we have to adhere by…some people look at it as a opinion but, to me, factory manual and that book really changes opinion into solid evidence…
i can back it up with what the book says…every single vehicle history of inspection would be rechecked by “safety officer” his job to double check every form and make sure it would fall into what they would fail….i happen to deal with next province, two different provinces but, most of stuff falls under similar condition.
at least in the paper trail, you are covered as long as you follow book as bible…without opinion….
our forms have fail and off road category…anything to do rust and failing safety items like steering and brake related ….no questions…
in our country, our discretion to call police as soon as jerk customer drive away on unsafe vehicle…let them stop them on road…they are authorized…not us…we are only mechanics…right?
We don’t have a state inspection in Indiana. Which is a good thing and a bad thing. Good in a way that customers don’t think technicians/shops are out to fail a car just to scare someone into buying parts. Bad because some of these vehicles that come in absolutely do not belong on the road. Like seriously, some of them are down right scary. But what we do have is a gray area “company policy”. If one of us tell the manager that this car is absolutely unsafe to drive, we will not give the keys back to the customer unless it’s towed away. And we will pay for the tow. Looked at a car couple of days ago. Needed 2 steel brake lines, rear calipers, and pads/rotors all the way around. Had no brake pedal and e-brake didn’t work. Took me 20 feet to stop from 5mph. Had to push it Into my bay. They didn’t want to pay for it. They said give me my keys and I’ll drive away. Got mad when we said no. They wanted to speak to the technician (me) and ask why I doomed the vehicle. I told them that if they were sharing the road with the vehicle that had my wife and daughter with them in it and they struck it and killed them, I would come after them and anyone associated with that car. They got the hint and we payed a tow company to haul it away.
Hopefully to the scrap yard.
You raise and interesting point though. If someone who is educated or certified deems the vehicle unfit to the point where it is towed out of the shop. Is the owner not taking a huge amount of liability if they ever choose to drive the car again without correcting issues that made it not roadworthy?
[quote=”DaFirnz” post=145569]Hopefully to the scrap yard.
You raise and interesting point though. If someone who is educated or certified deems the vehicle unfit to the point where it is towed out of the shop. Is the owner not taking a huge amount of liability if they ever choose to drive the car again without correcting issues that made it not roadworthy?[/quote]
Absolutely. They are taking all of the liability. It was documented extensively the car shouldn’t be driven. Have a copy of the tow bill to prove it was indeed towed. As far as the company is concerned, it cannot come back to hurt us as far as a lawsuit if its not fixed. If they drive it and something bad happens, it’s 100% on them. We cannot make anyone pay for repairs they do not want performed. And there is no state inspection to fail so the car cannot be driven or a way to get the police involved. We tried to work with them on price. They simply did not have the money to get it fixed.
It’s very unfortunate. I wish the state had a strict set of laws involving vehicle safety. We see a few vehicles a month that we have to give the owners the right speech. Im not into selling people things they don’t need to make sales goals. But if they make the choice to drive an unsafe vehicle and not only endanger their family lives but those of everyone else around them, we have to step in and give them a reality check. If they still choose to leave, we cannot force them to stay.
A boss of mine was a state inspector here in OK at one time also. He knew everyone within 200 miles. One of his buds would come in for an inspection with major problems on the car and I’d flunk it.
He would step in at times and put a sticker on it anyway.There’s not enough money paid on any inspection that would make me want to be an inspector up north in the Rust Belt.
I’ve seen some of the northern rust buckets surface here in OK and it’s amazing they even made it down here.I had a 5 year old Subaru from MN in the shop for something and hollered at another mechanic across the shop to tell me what he thought of it. He stared from across the aisle a bit and said what?
At that point I reached through a hole in the top of the fender and pulled my can of Coke out which had been sitting on top of the tire. The other side was the same way.
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