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Division of Motor Vehicles officials have quietly stopped enforcing automobile emissions inspection rules, after glitches in a new program caused problems for thousands of lawful vehicle owners.
The move comes amid a two-year effort by the DMV that is intended, eventually, to increase the number of inspections.
Inspection rates were expected to drop slightly during a transition period, while many car owners are allowed to go between 13 and 23 months from one inspection to the next. By October 2010, each car's inspection and registration renewals will come due at the same time, rather than during two different months.
The falloff in inspections appears to have accelerated as more car owners realize they can skip an inspection without being punished. DMV stopped enforcing the rules in November.
“When you go get your tag, they don't care whether you've had it inspected or not,” said Brian Stahl, who operates several inspection stations in the Charlotte area. “People at the tag office are telling everybody just to scrape off the old inspection sticker and get it done next year.”
In 48 urban counties with air-quality problems that require emissions checks, DMV saw a 9.1 percent drop in inspections in January, compared to the same month in 2008. By April, the gap between last year and this year had grown to 12.5 percent.
Inspection numbers had been on the rise in recent years, matching the growth in registered vehicles in North Carolina. But so far in 2009, the count is the lowest since 2006.
Until November, DMV blocked registration for cars that went more than 12 months without an emissions check. And the agency levied fines of $50 — dropped last year from $250 — when an inspection was more than four months late.
These enforcement tools prodded many North Carolinians to keep up with their required emissions checks and kept the state in line with federal air-quality rules.
When the problems started
DMV's registration database previously was networked only with inspection stations in the 48 urban counties. The agency just kept paper records for safety inspections in the 52 rural counties where emissions checks are not required. But these “safety-only” counties joined DMV's statewide computer network in November.
And that's when the trouble began.
In the first couple of weeks, DMV fielded thousands of complaints from vehicle owners unfairly blocked from getting their registrations and license tags. Flaws in the program were tripping up school buses, cars sold by some auto dealers and cars brought into North Carolina by residents moving from other states.
So DMV stopped levying fines and stopped blocking registrations for cars with tardy inspections.
“Any major new program you undertake, you're going to find things you have to fix,” said Tracy Keel, assistant director of DMV's License and Theft Bureau. “They had to cut it off because there were so many discrepancies out there.”
Sgt. V.E. Burton of the N.C. Highway Patrol said Sunday that troopers aren't issuing citations for lax inspections because of the DMV problems.
“When the DMV says they have their system ready, we'll begin issuing citations again,” Burton said.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police spokespersons were unavailable for comment Sunday.
A spokesman for state environmental regulators said he hoped North Carolinians will keep getting their cars inspected, to catch problems that cause air pollution.
“There is a certain presumption that people are going to do the right thing,” said Tom Mather, spokesman for the state Division of Air Quality, which works with DMV on emissions inspections. “Just because they won't be penalized for not getting the car inspected, that doesn't mean everybody should stop doing it.”
As soon as the problems are ironed out, Keel said, DMV Commissioner Michael D. Robertson will “turn on the switch” to resume enforcement.
He said it was hard to tell how many car owners have renewed their registration without having had their cars inspected on time.
“I think when we cut it back on, it's going to improve,” Keel said.
“Because if you don't have your inspection you won't get a registration. That was the whole intent of the program, to improve compliance.”
Peter St. Onge contributed.
