AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Check your windshields, Texans -- drivers in most counties can forgo the annual trip to the shop when mandatory state vehicle safety inspections end next year.
The state legislature ended the requirement last year with a new law going into effect on Jan. 1, 2025. Ensuring safe vehicles will now be a personal responsibility.
"Vehicle inspections are costly, time-consuming, and provide little benefit," State Sen. Mayes Middleton said in support of the bill during a committee hearing last legislative session. "It saves hardworking Texans tens of millions of hours of their time not taken away any more."
Law enforcement and public safety experts expressed concern the new convenience may cost lives. Inspections are meant to spot bald tires, broken brakes, illegal tint, and other potential hazards.
"The first line of defense for the safety of our fellow Texans is going to be a vehicle inspection," Sgt. Joe Escribano with the Travis County Constable's Office told the Senate committee last year.
The change may save you time, but not money - the requirement will be replaced by a $7.50 "inspection replacement fee." Newer vehicles not yet registered will incur a $16.75 fee to cover two years of registration.
The change comes with a major exception -- drivers in Texas' major metro areas will still need an annual emissions test, meant to spot vehicles emitting excessive pollutants. Travis County's Environmental Project Manager for Air Quality said the tests are crucial to comply with standards from the Environmental Protection Agency and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
"Ten percent of the vehicles that are polluting are creating ninety percent of our emissions problem. So the idea is to get rid of those vehicles - not get rid of them, but to get them cleaned up as much as possible so they no longer pollute," Adele Noel said.
The following counties will require emissions testing even after mandatory inspections end in 2025: Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris and Montgomery counties; Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall and Tarrant counties; Travis and Williamson counties; and El Paso County. Bexar County will begin requiring emissions tests in 2026.
Commercial vehicles will still be subject to the inspection requirement as usual.
