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mandatory Technical inspection for HSD cars in Romania

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by Bibster, Jul 10, 2020.

  1. Bibster

    Bibster Junior Member

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    Hi people,
    I did my first mandatory technical inspection for my Auris hybrid. I have to do this every 6 months.
    the mechanic did not seem to know a lot about hybrids (he looked for the 12v battery under the bonnet
    At some point, the car was placed on the device that forces the wheels to spin. Don't really know what it's called. I'm wondering whether or not this damages the hybrid system in any way since I've read that you should not try to tow a Prius and instead transport it on a platform. Thanks

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  2. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    The HSD does allow for at least a limited amount of being externally driven.

    The key issues are that the HSD does not have a mechanical neutral, so moving the wheels will cause other parts to move, and there is potential for damage from an assembly being driven beyond safe RPM limits and theoretically also potential for the gas engine to be driven backwards.

    I can't remember the limit, it is published in Toyota's owner manuals, as well as their safety and recovery guides. It is low, maybe 25km/hr and only for a short duration. I'm sure the test was short enough.

    If your car survived the process once, chances are it will be fine again and again.
     
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  3. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Does your mechanic have any affiliation with Toyota? I'm having a hard time understanding why it's necessary to have the car up on rollers.

    In North America, six month inspections involve:

    1. Tire rotations (front and rear wheels swapped).
    2. Visual inspection of brakes (more in-depth inspection every 30k miles or 3 years).
    3. Oil and filter change (every 5k miles or 6 months, or every 10k miles or 12 months, depending on location, model, driving conditions and/or owner preference).

    There's a few more infrequent maintenance items, but the above are the main ones.
     
    #3 Mendel Leisk, Jul 11, 2020
    Last edited: Jul 11, 2020
  4. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    The subject title of this thread does a great job of misleading :LOL:
     
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  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    does a dynomometer spin the wheels, or record the systems while the car is simulating road conditions?
     
  6. royrose

    royrose Senior Member

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    He is talking about a mandatory safety and/or emissions inspection that has different names and requirements in different countries. For example, it is called Warrant of Fitness in New Zealand. Older vehicles must be inspected more frequently than newer ones.
     
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  7. Bibster

    Bibster Junior Member

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    That's exactly what I'm talking about. With the car being used for Uber, I have to do it every 6 months.
    I've taken a pic of the device as someone asked about it.
    Thanks a lot to Leadfoot J. McCoalroller in particular!
    IMG_20200707_101227.jpeg

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
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  8. AzWxGuy

    AzWxGuy Weather Guy

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    Sort of looks like one of those emission check stations. Most places now just use the OBD II port.
     
  9. Elektroingenieur

    Elektroingenieur Senior Member

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    It’s required for the service brake performance and efficiency test, item 1.2, pages 67 and following in the Romanian Automotive Register’s regulations for periodic technical inspection, RNTR 1 (PDF, in Romanian).
    As long as the hybrid system was on (READY) during the test, I wouldn’t worry about a brief test, such as you describe. Unlike the situation when towing, the car’s computers would have been able to control the motor-generators in the hybrid transaxle and detect any faults, and the cooling systems would have been available, if needed. Externally driving the wheels is similar to what happens when descending a long grade.
     
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  10. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    That's all good and well, but truth be told, there's nothing you can't interpret through the Tek stream and OBD port that would be any better than what you might get from a dyno.
    that's a question best asked of Volkswagen

    .
     
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  11. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    But it sometimes takes a very long time for government bureaucracies to catch up to realities.
     
  12. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    @hill

    Motor vehicle inspectors are unlikely to have a laptop with Techstream, or any other proprietary auto manufacturer's software?

    (I'd quote you but the process is maddeningly impossible on my phone right now.)
     
  13. Elektroingenieur

    Elektroingenieur Senior Member

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    That’s probably true, if you’re concerned only with gross effectiveness of the emission controls and can assume that the vehicle was designed to meet the regulations. This was definitely the conclusion that California reached for its Smog Check program, which no longer requires dynamometer tests for newer vehicles.
    The technical inspection in România, at least according to the regulations I linked in post #9, is far more comprehensive—more like a shaken than a Smog Check—and covers brakes, steering, suspension, wheels, tires, lamps, and so on.

    The test instrument isn’t just a dynamometer that can absorb the power output from the engine (or hybrid system), but rather a brake test stand (standul de frânare cu role), with its own source of power to drive the wheels and thereby measure braking forces. Older editions of the Bosch Automotive Handbook had a good explanation of how these work.
     
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  14. Bibster

    Bibster Junior Member

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    It looks like I was worrying about nothing but luckily the discussion is quite informative.
    In hindsight, I wouldn't have been so worried if I didn't hear those strange clunking noises when the car was in the stand and the wheels spinning.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  15. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Wow. Thank you for introducing a new concept. A Japanese Automotive test, primarily driven by the Auto industry, that over-tests and overburdens older cars, making it so expensive you have to end up buying a newer car because the test costs get so outrageously expensive !
    From the wiki topic;
     
  16. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    We used have an annual road worthiness test up here, tested braking force, signals/lights, among other things. In the eighties. It was phased out, replaced with tail pipe emission testing, then that was phased out too. Now we have nothing.
     
  17. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    Wait, so the democrats want us to get rid of our existing cars by making emission tests expensive? Like California exempting smog checks for vehicles that's 8 years or newer? And the cash for clunkers program, which ran out of money? No way, I always heard it's the free market when it comes to cars & gasoline issues. "Politicians" say it's about the environment and not about politics when it comes to the environmental issue & car related taxes. I don't believe wikipedia now.
     
  18. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    So the next time you vote in a Japanese domestic election, don't vote for that Japanese political party.
     
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  19. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    I will vote for the 3rd party candidate (y)
     
  20. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    If I'm reading the political info correctly, there are currently 9 parties holding seats in Japan's equivalent to our Congress. "3rd" on the list is big enough to have about five dozen seats.

    I'd certainly like to break the ingrained duopoly in our own political system.