Auto inspection rules change Friday Fast facts Changes to Maine vehicle inspection rules:

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Lift kits are back in.

Bigger or smaller tires will be allowed.

And those who do inspections will be held more accountable for the work they do.

A revision of the state’s 139-page motor vehicle inspection rules goes into effect Friday, changing rules that govern how all vehicles – cars, trucks, buses, trailers and motorcycles – are inspected.

The new rules add more leniency for altered or custom vehicles and tougher rules for inspectors.

The basic $12.50 fee remains unchanged and will continue to be charged whether a vehicle passes inspection or not.

Maine requires cars and trucks to be inspected annually.

“It keeps everybody honest,” Al Belanger, owner of Tires, Batteries and Accessories Inc. of Bangor, said Tuesday. “We have inspection stations that still do not do their job properly.”

The new inspection regulations feature 26 major changes.

Some are as simple as requiring the windshield washer system to work or that vehicles have hoods to pass the required annual inspection.

Others require inspection technicians to print their names on stickers they issue and to remove half of the current inspection sticker on vehicles that fail inspections.

“That gives everybody a heads up that somebody has already found something is wrong,” said Wayne Bouchard of Bouchard & Sons Towing in Hampden.

The new rules will prevent people from going from service station to service station shopping around for a sticker, he said.

Diagonally removing the half of the sticker that doesn’t contain the date of expiration will not invalidate the current sticker. The idea behind the change is to make clear to police that the vehicle has a safety problem that needs to be fixed, said Bangor Police Chief Don Winslow.

“More importantly, it’s going to motivate the person who owns the vehicle to get the vehicle fixed,” he said.

If a vehicle is rejected, the garage must give the owner or driver a written list of the problems.

Requiring inspection technicians to print their full name on a sticker, not just a signature and station number as required now, will give state inspectors a specific person to look for in the event of an incident associated with the vehicle.

“That will definitely identify the people who are not doing what they have to do,” Belanger said. “It holds everybody responsible. Nobody should be able to go in and get a quick inspection.”

Both Belanger’s business and Bouchard & Sons are licensed inspection stations and regulated by the state Department of Public Safety.

The new rules take effect Friday and repeal the 2001 version, said Sgt. Brian Scott, Maine State Police inspection unit supervisor. State police are still rewriting the massive inspection manual to align it with the new regulations, he said.

Stations that apply for licenses after Jan. 1 also will be required to have concrete floors and fully functioning lifts or an inspection pit in order to be licensed under the new rules.

While the state has been inspecting vehicles for more than 60 years, the Public Safety Department vehicle inspection law, passed in 1993, made it illegal to raise or lower the body or suspension or change the tire size of vehicles with rear-wheel or all-wheel anti-lock brakes.

The new rules establish regulations for so-called custom vehicles, which for the most part could not pass inspections, remove restrictions on changing a vehicle’s height, and amend tire restrictions to allow tires that are two sizes bigger or smaller than manufacture specifications.

“This is huge. Huge,” Belanger said. “We find a lot of people like [their vehicles] jacked up” and bigger tires.

Part of the new regulations require the lift kits to come from the vehicle manufacturer and that they be professionally installed. The kits can raise the height by up to 4 inches, measured from where the bumper brackets are bolted onto the frame, and are based on the gross vehicle weight.

“It can’t be hockey pucks,” Belanger said, adding that people have used all sorts of items to jack up vehicle bodies over the years.

The revision became a 2004 project for the state Motor Vehicle Advisory Board, created in 2002 by state police and involving legislators and representatives from the automotive industry.

“It’s not a stagnant program,” said Lt. Christopher Grotton, director of the Maine State Police Traffic Safety Unit. “In fact, we’re constantly looking to make things more clear and reasonable. Every new model of car is exponentially more complicated. Those are the challenges we face.”

The new rules will go a long way in improving vehicle safety, Belanger said.

“I think people forget [that] if we fail a vehicle it’s for the safety of their family and my family because we might be coming down the road the other way,” he said.

The complete Maine motor vehicle inspection manual is available on the Maine State Police Web site, listed under “vehicle inspections & crashes,” directly accessible by going to: www.maine.gov/dps/msp/vehiclesinspections/index.html.

Fast facts

. Stickers of failing vehicles will be cut diagonally but retain expiration date.

. Standards set for custom vehicles.

. Stations must post hours open and available for inspections.

. Inspection standards set for so-called after-market lighting.

. All stations licensed after Jan. 1, 2007, must have fully functioning lift or inspection pits.

. $12.50 fee unchanged