CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — For decades, vehicle owners were required to get an inspection before registering their cars but beginning January 1, 2025 the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles will no longer be enforcing this requirement.
In 2023, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed House Bill 3297 which eliminated safety inspection for non-commercial vehicles.
This is a big change that has many wondering how safe will it be to drive on the roads next year. San Patricio County Sheriff Oscar Rivera said it will be the drivers responsibility to keep their vehicle road-worthy.
"We have the habit of not checking our cars until the engine light comes on," Rivera said. "One of the things we never inspect is the brakes until you start hearing the squeaking of metal to metal and you realize you have brake problems and that's a little too late after that."
Coastal Bend native Randy Endsley said with the new law, he believes there will be a lot of unsafe cars on the road because people don't generally fix things until they have to.
"I'm in the medical profession here in Corpus Christi. And we see a lot of accidents, high speed accidents out in the interstate and I just feel like we're going to see an increase in that because people are not taking care of their vehicles like they should,"Endsley said.
Without the requirement of an inspection, Rivera said there could be an increase in crashes.
"According to TxDOT stats in 2024, we've had 18 vehicle accidents involving bald tires, seven additional accidents are cause of bad brakes, and one for headlights," Rivera said.
Endsley said although it's not a requirement, it's still important to make sure your vehicle is working correctly.
"If you don't have a safe car and, like I said, you have a roll over because you have a bald tire and a blow out, you're not only affecting you and all your people in your vehicle but possibly somebody else's family as well," Endsley said "It's going to be hugely important that people take care of their vehicles since the state isn't checking up on that."
Although a vehicle inspection will no longer be required, Texans will still have to pay an inspection program replacement fee of $7.50 when you register your vehicle.
For more information on the new law, visit TxDMV's website here.