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Comment by u801e | Hacker News Reader

I'm in the same state. One year, I had to spend $600 for a new ABS module because the parking brake light kept flashing on and off and that was an automatic inspection failure (despite the fact that the parking brake had no issues).

Another year, I took my car in for a brake fluid change and state inspection. They failed the inspection because the rear brake rotors were below the minimum thickness. I replaced the rotors and pads and took it back in. They passed it and put the sticker on.

On the way home, I get the low brake fluid warning light and find that one of the front calipers was leaking brake fluid. So I had to replace the caliper as well.

Essentially, they'll fail inspection even if it's not a real safety issue (blinking parking brake indicator light), but miss actual safety issues (leaking caliper during a brake fluid change service).

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Sounds typical: they fail inspection for easy-to-see things (e.g., lights missing or warning lights showing), and miss not-so-easy-to-see things (a small amount of leaking fluid).

One things I've heard people say, and which I would agree with, is that one of the reasons to keep your engine bay clean isn't for it to look pretty, but so that problems (esp. leaking fluid or oil) are more obvious. On older cars with dirty engine bays or undersides, it's a lot harder to see some problems because of all the grime. I have no idea if that was an issue with your car, but I can see it being a problem with a lot of inspected cars.

> one of the reasons to keep your engine bay clean isn't for it to look pretty, but so that problems (esp. leaking fluid or oil) are more obvious

That's a very good point. But, in my case, I would counter it with the fact that the car had a brake fluid change performed and that they inspected the braking system as part of the inspection process (hence how they determined the rear rotors would not pass inspection).

An essential part of a brake system inspection is to check if there are any leaks by examining the brake fluid reservoir, master cylinder, brake lines, and calipers. I would understand if they missed a power steering fluid leak or a coolant leak since they weren't directly dealing with those systems as part of the service I paid them for, but they should have definitely spotted that leak before giving me the keys.

Wait, they did brake work at the same time as the inspection and missed a brake fluid leak? That's sheer incompetence.

This kind of thing is why I never like letting other people do car work for me, and try to do everything myself. You just can't trust mechanics in this country to be honest and competent.

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