California BAR provides salvage vehicle inspection program, enforcement stats

The California Bureau of Automotive Repair (BAR) has tagged the three-phase rollout of its new Vehicle Safety Systems Inspections (VSSI) Program for salvage vehicles as a huge success.

California implemented the program in 2024, following years of development by the BAR.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 471 into law in 2021, which required BAR to create and implement the inspection program by Jan. 1, 2024. BAR held multiple public workshops where it received input about the program from the collision repair industry.

The new program requires inspections of salvage vehicle body structure, steering and suspension, tires and wheels, and passenger compartments. It replaced the state’s previous brake and lamp inspection program.

Technicians performing the inspections must hold a National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence certificate or an active brake adjuster license and an active lamp adjuster license, according to BAR.

The rollout included:

• • Phase I – Licensing VSSI stations and technicians beginning March 27, 2024
  • Phase II – Inspections began on July 8, 2024
  • Phase III – Brake and lamp programs were sunset Sept. 27, 2024

On Oct. 23, the BAR Executive Office provided a report to the bureau’s Advisory Group during its quarterly meeting, which provides some inspection statistics.

The document states that vehicles most commonly fail VSSIs over open safety recalls and issues with passenger compartments, safety restraint systems, or tires and wheels.

Common passenger compartment failures are due to a safety restraint system (SRS) light being on or a cracked windshield. As for tire and wheel issues, the most common are worn tires or an illuminated tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) light.

As of Sept. 28, BAR reports that 238,601 inspections have been initiated and 195,924 certificates issued. The report also states that 37,891 vehicles failed inspections, creating a 15.9% inspection failure rate. So far, there are 517 VSSI stations and 816 VSSI technicians.

“One minor thing I think we could definitely do better next time is make sure we catch all the cross-references to other laws and regulations,” said Clay Leek, BAR Smog Check, Engineering, and Information Services Division deputy chief. “We continue to clean up some of those just cross-references we didn’t anticipate… One of the big lessons learned and big benefits was the ability to reuse a lot of the existing technology components that we’re already built for smog check, certificate, purchasing, and station management.”

He added that BAR has also learned how to address unforeseen circumstances affecting inspection passage, such as parts unavailability or a regionally based safety recall.

BAR says it plans to add advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) inspections to the inspection program.

“It always was our goal to have ADAS be a part of this program,” said Patrick Dorais, BAR Field Operations and Enforcement Division chief. “We just knew we couldn’t get there on day one when the regulations were adopted… We knew ADAS was going to be the next big chunk that we were going to have to bite off on this program to integrate it into the program, so maybe it is time we look at that.”

BAR said it has learned throughout the rollout that it needs to do a better job of cross-referencing other sections of laws and regulations and to reuse existing technology components.

BAR enforcement stats

Another report provided at the BAR Advisory Group meeting covered fiscal year Q1 bureau complaint enforcement statistics.

The number of complaints received in July, including BAR investigations, increased by nearly 200 to 1,973 compared to July 2024 (1,786).

Complaints were also up in August and September compared to last year.

In August, there were 1,901 compared to 1,868 in 2024.

September saw almost as drastic an increase as July — from 1,755 in 2024 to 1,932.

Most complaints fell under engine repair and performance (1,525), general repair and maintenance (866), and auto body (658).

The report also notes some stats on BAR’s Auto Body Inspection Program, which offers no-cost inspections of collision-related repairs “to help ensure the safety of California motorists and their vehicles.”

“As part of the inspection, a BAR representative will examine the vehicle, address any questions or concerns that the consumer may have, and if the repair invoice is available, will verify that all repairs listed on the invoice were performed correctly,” the report states. “If any issues are identified during the inspection, the representative will advise the consumer as well as ask if they would like to file a complaint to be investigated further by BAR.”

During Q1, 85 inspections were requested and 23 were conducted. Eleven complaints were filed with the BAR following the inspections.

Images

Featured image credit: Photo_Concepts/iStock

Auto body top five complaint allegations graphs provided in BAR report