Regulating vehicle safety inspections
Summary of our report
Vehicle owners must have their vehicles regularly inspected to confirm the vehicles meet minimum safety standards before they can be driven on New Zealand roads. The New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) has authorised about 8400 approved vehicle inspectors and 3500 inspecting organisations to inspect vehicles and issue warrants and certificates of fitness.
A regulatory failure in the vehicle inspection system could affect any one of us. We need confidence that vehicles are inspected properly and that the vehicles on our roads have met minimum safety standards.
NZTA ensures that inspectors and organisations have the necessary technical skills and equipment to carry out inspections. It also checks that vehicle inspectors and the main representatives of an inspecting organisation are "fit and proper".
NZTA knows there are still improvements to be made. These include making requirements for inspecting vehicles easier to find and understand for people carrying out inspections, and modernising the information technology it uses.
What is in this report
The importance of safe vehicles
New Zealanders have one of the highest rates of car ownership in the world. When an owner pays for a warrant or certificate of fitness, they expect that their vehicle has been thoroughly inspected and is safe to drive. There have been instances where trust and confidence in the vehicle inspection system has been affected.
Regulating vehicle inspectors and inspecting organisations
Rules made under the Land Transport Act 1998 set out safety standards that vehicles need to meet to get a warrant or certificate of fitness. The Rules cover parts of the vehicle, like brakes, seat belts, and lights. There are also rules for the appointment of inspecting organisations.
Processes and improvements
NZTA has worked hard to clear a backlog of site reviews. As well as using its regular site reviews to find non-compliance, NZTA investigates possible cases of non-compliance identified from information received or from its own data analysis. There is scope for NZTA to use this information to develop a more risk-based approach to its monitoring.
Vehicle inspections will need to change
There are opportunities for NZTA to be more accountable to the public for its performance and to give the public more confidence in the integrity of the system for issuing warrants and certificates of fitness. Improving the current approach is important but NZTA also needs to consider what long-term changes are needed.
Our recommendations
We have made five recommendations for NZTA and the Ministry of Transport to strengthen the regulation of vehicle inspectors and inspecting organisations. Other regulators might find the recommendations and other observations in this report applicable to their own regulatory systems.