I can't believe I'm actually posting this message, but I am going to
have to say that I'm becoming more and more in favor of annual safety
inspections for vehicles. It seems like more and more people just
don't maintain their rides. I have heard, in the last week, a vehicle
with a terminal-sounding rod knock; seen a vehicle with an obviously
blown head gasket, and finally one with no lights on the rear of the
vehicle at all except for the third brake light. Now if these are the
*obvious* issues immediately identified by a cursory glance from a
passing vehicle, what else is being neglected? Brakes? Suspension?
Critical drivetrain parts like the driveshaft that could actually pose
a safety risk should it fail? It seems fairly likely...

The scary thing is, I live in a fairly affluent area. I am probably on
the very bottom end of the salary range for this area, it's not like
people are scraping to get by - or if they are, they don't show it. My
16 year old car is the exception, anything over 10 years old is highly
unusual. It would appear that people just don't care, or don't have
enough mechanical knowledge to even identify serious problems...

nate