Sixty bucks gets you a '97 Miata wheel & airbag on car-part.com. Buy it, install it, get teched, remove it.
Sixty bucks gets you a '97 Miata wheel & airbag on car-part.com. Buy it, install it, get teched, remove it.
All of you who are pointing the finger at me are making an assumption that the law or the process hasn't changed in the intervening years. I don't have any evidence to support either possibility but I suspect none of you do either.
I'm not making any assumptions, other than what you have posted.
The car is not legal, you know it, and you don't feel like fixing it.
It is completely irrelevant when the law changed.
Your options have been well outlined. You can:
Crying about it is not on the list.
I sort of enjoy the double standard for road safety items. Here in Kentucky it's the Law that we have to wear our seatbelts while we drive. (Not the first thing about inspecting ANYTHING btw)
But if you want to ride your motorcycle all over creation feel free to not wear a helmet. Yeah, cause that makes sense.
SVreX wrote: Crying about it is not on the list.
I love this guy 
Hmmmm. A thread decrying overbearing regulations imposed whimsically and without due thought for their actual impact on others or the freedom of the individual to choose....
Nothing for me to say. 
KyAllroad wrote: I sort of enjoy the double standard for road safety items. Here in Kentucky it's the Law that we have to wear our seatbelts while we drive. (Not the first thing about inspecting ANYTHING btw) But if you want to ride your motorcycle all over creation feel free to not wear a helmet. Yeah, cause that makes sense.
Haha same in va. Also if youre over 18 or so its legal to ride in the bed of a pickup. But if youre in the passenger compartment its "click it or ticket"
nicksta43 wrote:SVreX wrote: Crying about it is not on the list.I love this guy
Umm...I'm a married man.
SVreX wrote: Crying about it is not on the list.
Haha, foolish me. Thinking I might commiserate with fellow like-minded enthusiasts on an open forum about an issue that undoubtedly affects more than a couple of us. Not on SVreX's Internet!
you've been offered several solutions … the state inspection has been there for a while (as you said you've been allowed to skate for 5 yrs)
not sure what you're upset about … you know what the law is
why you don't buy one of the air bagged wheels offered on here… put it on, pass the test, remove… wash, rinse, repeat
then you're good to go … but instead you want us to tell you that you're right in your whining ?
I'm more on SVreX's side here
do what you have to do … one way or the other
In reply to SVreX:
Me 2, we can keep it on the DL
In reply to Armitage:
Your options have been well outlined. You can:
List corrected. Sorry I overlooked that, Armitage.
Appreciate the update. I like to keep my options open, afterall
failboat wrote:KyAllroad wrote: I sort of enjoy the double standard for road safety items. Here in Kentucky it's the Law that we have to wear our seatbelts while we drive. (Not the first thing about inspecting ANYTHING btw) But if you want to ride your motorcycle all over creation feel free to not wear a helmet. Yeah, cause that makes sense.Haha same in va. Also if youre over 18 or so its legal to ride in the bed of a pickup. But if youre in the passenger compartment its "click it or ticket"
Pretty sure you gotta wear a helmet while riding a motorcycle in VA.
not that I would know about this.. but Dry ice makes inspection stickers fall off of windshields without damage
youre probably right. i dont ride so dont listen to me. but still, the truck thing.
ontopic it sounds like Armitage has also removed (or at least someone did) all the associated airbag computers and such that are/were probably tucked up under the dash. So just buying a steering wheel and airbag wont "fix" the car its a bit more work involved, hopefully he still has those parts. Some point along the way, I "heard" the state decided that if your car came from the factory with an airbag, it needs to have it for inspection. Had a friend driving with a deployed airbag and duct taped wheel around that time and he got pulled over, the state trooper told him something to that effect as well.
I got away for many years (03-09) without the airbag wheel on my chevy van, quite frankly I think because it looks just the same as any old van from the 70's body wise. In 07 or 08 year they gave me some E36 M3 because I still had the airbag light in the dash that remained on, the shop I had been using for years at the time popped it out for me and got it through.
who knows what kind of info the inspectors have now with their new system. for all you know its a computer that they punch your vin into and if it says you should have an airbag and you dont, game over.
good luck man, the struggle is real.
but your car was an OBD2 vehicle with a plug in port … his is at best an OBD1, maybe even OBD0 … there's no plug in … so they (I'm guessing here) would be doing a safety inspection only (like here in NC)
so it "should" be a visual inspection only … as in … they would see the in place airbag on the steering wheel
my '96 Impreza was that way … you could see the "airbag" steering wheel
the only time they started the car was to inspect the lights (lights don't work if the ignition is off on the Suby)
I don't remember if they looked at the indicator lights on the dash … I know they don't check on my '91 CRX … it came without an airbag …. and the head lights work without switching on the ignition … so there is no checking of the dash lights
OK, I can relate. I have an '86 VW GTI that I bought and built specifically to rally which means it has to be registered and "road legal". About the 2nd or 3rd season my state (Mass.) instituted a dyno road simulation test for all cars that are not OBD2 and emissions compliant (e.g. pre-1984 here). Trouble was they decided to institute the Calif. emissions requirements rather than the 48 state and back in '86 that required VW to put out a "special" model. Needless to say that while my car passed the old tailpipe no load sniff test, it failed the driving simulation. Lucky for me the guy at the station was a good guy and went out of his way to get the car to "pass" that first time. Since doing what he did could have cost him his license if an inspector were to be observing, I decided to not do it again. For other reasons I stopped rallying and the hillclimbing that I started doing around that time didnt require the inspection.
I put "road legal" in quotes because I have yet to see a rally car that should have passed a typical state safety inspection. Not that they are unsafe, just that they ALWAYS have airbags removed or disabled, never have OEM restraints belts in place and almost never have DOT labeled tires on them. I am not saying they SHOULD have to have these things since what they do have, in my opinion is better, they according to many state inspection rules they MUST have them.
I happen to be an SFI certified tech inspector for Rally America and have been the Chief Scrutineer for Rally New York until it was re-organized into ESPR under NASA. We have occasionally inspected a car with a clear but minor safety issue (no rule changes) where the owner correctly points out that is has passed a number of previous tech inspections. Our answer is we must have missed it before this time but that doesnt make it OK to leave it uncorrected. In our case it is nearly impossible to check every single item required of every rally car at an event tech. We focus on a checklist and at the same time look beyond that, but we often do not dig into everything related to safety of a particular item, but we try to change a few things we do look for beyond the usual checks at each event. I would not be surprised to find that techs at state licensed inspection stations do something similar. Thus, your lack of an airbag may never have been legal, but until recently was simply not a point of focus.
"Fix it", drive illegally, or take it off the road until it no longer matters. I'm fighting a DMV computer that won't allow my van to pass because a sensor hasn't reset when I replace the MAF. I've driven nearly 1000 miles since the replacement and it still won't pass. I keep a copy of the failed inspection paper work with me in case I get pulled. Apparently, if it doesn't pass based on this sensor, I can appeal to the DMV and get a waiver for 12 months.
Not much to add to this... my '88 E30 failed emissions (badly) right after I bought it. I drove the car for 3 years in PA & NJ with no stickers. Hell... the car was my DD for about 2 months during that time.
Of course, this is in SE PA... where apparently cops don't give a crap. And fortunately, the networks that cover registrations and inspections seem to be separate and don't talk to each other... YMMV
Do you feel lucky? 
How much is the ticket to just drive without it being inspected?
If it isn't that bad and the car isn't your daily driver, I'd just do that and say berkeley the stupid law.
Or cheat, depending on how they check.
I'd throw an airbag steering wheel on it, disable the light and/or rig it to display for a couple of seconds at key on, then go off, and try and see if that got a pass.
93EXCivic wrote: How much is the ticket to just drive without it being inspected? If it isn't that bad and the car isn't your daily driver, I'd just do that and say berkeley the stupid law. Or cheat, depending on how they check.
depends … here you can't reg. without a valid inspection .. don't know about there
Registration depends on where in VA. Northern VA, and possibly the Hampton Roads areas require emissions inspections passed to register, I'm in Charlottesville, so no emissions testing here :) I have a Miata bag and wheel that you could install.
Thank you for the heads up. I will add Virginia to my list of states to never live in.
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