latest on the new Safety Cert Drive On program...

[GreyGhost]

Forum Sponsor

That was one of my biggest concerns: Who is 'one the other end' of the submitted Cert to approve/reject? Are THEY a licensed tech or a 'no gray area' algorithm?!?!

This issue had nothing to do with driveon (and it was in a different province). In the past, a shop doing a paper safety could probably use professional judgement (although that would be a violation if caught) but with pics submitted mechanic has no option to argue that changes happened after the cert was issued.

 

[nobbie48]

A friend was having trouble getting a vehicle safetied as the stock brake system had been replaced. New brakes were six piston wilwood on rotors the size of the stock wheels all around but no abs so it couldn't pass. No brains were allowed. Check boxes only.

Houses not cars but in Nova Scotia you can only replace windows with top of the line big dollars stuff. It's OK to keep your drafty 50 year old single pane junk but you can't upgrade to a used five year old window your neighbour is chucking out due to a renovation. All or nothing.

I fear the number of usable older vehicles that will get scraped when a module is no longer available. State of the art is great when everyone has state of the art incomes.

 

[bitzz]

The inspection hasn't changed, the reporting of the inspection has changed. Everything has to be documented.
If your Deuce coupe would have passed a 'cert a year ago, your deuce coupe should pass a 'cert Apr.1.

If your deuce coupe would have passed a 'cert last year... with a wink and a nod from the certifying tech... that tech won't pass it because he has to take pictures of everything and upload those pics to the MOT mothership for further inspection (YEAH RIGHT!) later.

I have a '84 G body with the whole front suspension and brakes re-designed by ME. I am quite sure it would pass a 'cert no problem 'cuz no one will ever notice the change as I used all GM parts (from other GM cars and trucks) and it looks stock... AND (here's the important part) my shop(s) would go to bat for me IF it was questioned (as much as they could anyway)
If you got a sedan with a Mustang II steering rack ( a very popular swap), the tech can decide if the rack is safe. What the tech CAN'T decide is if the rack is safely attached to the frame it wasn't designed for, or if the steering column geometry is right (if didn't use the Mustang steering column).

A friend was having trouble getting a vehicle safetied as the stock brake system had been replaced. New brakes were six piston wilwood on rotors the size of the stock wheels all around but no abs so it couldn't pass. No brains were allowed. Check boxes only.

That one was easy. The problem was no ABS, not Wildwood. No ABS on an ABS equipped car is a HARD fail. It's a hard fail if the ABS, SRS or CEL light is on. It's a federal crime to modify it so the light doesn't come on when it should.

... but by the letter of the law: Wildwood IS a problem. The brakes the guy took off the car were DOT/MOT approved. No Wildwood product has any MOT/DOT approvals. Very few "aftermarket"parts have been inspected by MOT/DOT for road use... so you see "For off road/closed course use only on everything. 99.9% of aftermarket exhaust have no DOT/MOT certifications, so are illegal to run. Just like the Mustang rack in the sedan: that combination was never MOT/DOT approved, so technically no legal.

SO... IF you have a vehicle that is a mish mash of parts, that has an ownership, you can still get it certified, BUT you need a shop that is confident in their knowledge of the law, AND how to put a car/bike together... AND is willing to do certs (certs are a money losing proposition to a shop, the profit per hour is VERY low. It's a lot of work for not much money).
That combination is hard to find. One way is pay more. I expect to pay $300-360 for my next cert (still not enough).
There is a process outlined (in 2006?) on how to get a "hot rod" or home built certified in Ontario. AFIK no one has ever completed that process. The process is impossible in reality.
The mechanical side is pretty straight forward, the emissions side is a nightmare. Stick to pre '72 stuff: NO emission standards.

The only change I can see with bikes is they'll want a picture of the cat if the bike originally had a cat. So save those cats to sell your bike.

 

[TK4]

I wonder what will happen with older vehicles that don't have 17 digit VINs - will the system just spit them back out ?

 

[PrivatePilot]

You're not getting it. The number of shops that will be doing certs from now on is halved. And the price will be doubled or tripled. So good luck

Personally, I think all these "the sky is falling" claims are overblown. We heard screams from all the same places when requirements changed in the past, when drive clean was introduced, changed, and eventually cancelled. But shops will do what shops need to do to continue to earn money. If they need to *charge* more for the work, then whatever, they will. It'll cost the consumer some extra money.

But the fear that 50 or 75% of shops will stop doing safeties, meh, not gonna happen. There's big money to be made doing safeties - the labour doing the actual safety, one thing. Brakes, tie rods, ball joints, all that other stuff that typically causes cars to fail safety, that's bread and butter. And if a shop says they're not doing safeties anymore, people will just go somewhere else instead, and that other shop gets that gravy instead.

Lets all remember that you don't need to go to a motorcycle shop to get a motorcycle safetied, so it's not like just because your local MC shop decided to have a fit and refuse to do safeties anymore that you can't just go somewhere else. The mechanic doesn't even need a motorcycle licence as long as there's a parking lot big enough to get the bike up to 30kph, or heck, you can ride it and demonstrate the braking test - the only moving "riding" part of a safety. Most places don't even do that part of the test, "the bike stopped just fine when I pulled it into the shop" is sufficient.

Way too many people go full moron and make vehicles that are almost undriveable in the quest for a look.

"Stance", anyone?

 

[Lightcycle]

Lets all remember that you don't need to go to a motorcycle shop to get a motorcycle safetied, so it's not like just because your local MC shop decided to have a fit and refuse to do safeties anymore that you can't just go somewhere else.

100%

If Canadian Tire still does safeties, I'd take my bike there.

At least they won't fail you for tires because Canadian Tire doesn't sell motorcycle tires.

Any other motorcycle store, a safety cert means an instant tire sale for the shop.

 

[DonWiley]

I wonder what will happen with older vehicles that don't have 17 digit VINs - will the system just spit them back out ?

I made a post about that a bit back. As of now it seems like no grandfathered blue plates are making it through the digital safety. Which is pretty unfortunate for all the fully street legal conversions pre rule change in 2010 whatever it is. Hopefully that is fixed.

Forum Sponsor