How do I pass brake light inspection?

Aug 06, 2005 11 Replies

Our 89 Accord had a minor collision which a headlight will not flip down or up automatically. I have to manually flip them by hand. A brake and light inspection is due next month that requires a proper aim from the lights. I seriously can't fix this problem on time. How do I pass California's brake and light inspection when an inspector has to manually flip the headlight up and down?



Thanks


Flip the lights up and disconnect the motors, then aim them properly so they're up and aimed all the time.

nate

He doesn't have to flip them down. Pull the fuse for the motors.

-----------------------------------

Sarcasm follows:

Sam, are you telling us that it's THE LAW (in California) to point the headlights the right direction ? ? ? ?

Here in Alberta, Canada, anything goes. One pointing at Jupiter, the other pointing at JAPAN is the most common combination. :-)

The manufacturers tried to make headlights FOOLPROOF, but forgot that you can't make it make it illegal to sell SCREWDRIVERS to FOOLS.

Stay safe.

'Curly'

in SoCal, there is no brake and light inspection... where are you?

Didn't the '89 have a headlight defeat switch on the center console behind the hand brake?

--Gene

Can't speak for CA, but that is the case in NJ. Badly aimed headlights are a common reason for failing state inspection, although I have certainly seen plenty of vehicles on the road with the "one pointing at Jupiter, the other pointing at JAPAN" combo. We sometimes refer to them locally as star & worm finders.

"SoCalMike" wrote

NoCal. If the colluision repair cost more or near the value of your car then a brake and light inspection is due. The car's worth $509US.

are you sure? how does dmv determine the value of the vehicle? sounds more like a salvage vehicle issue to me because the only time i've ever had to get a brake & light inspection is when i've re-registered a de-registered vehicle. in that case, just open the phone book - the places that do it are listed among the smog test stations.

Probably some agency deregistered my car since I had to report any >$500 accident to the DMV which they asked for the value of the car on my last title transfer.

or request an extension of time to fix the thing.

Easy. Flip the lights up. Make sure they are aimed properly in the up postion. Don't flip the lights down. Leave them up all the time until you can properly fix the lights.

------------- Alex

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