Do the fog lights on the vehicle have to work for it to pass safety inspection? What about for enhanced safety inspection?

Post date: Nov 10, 2015 2:7:47 AM

For annual safety inspection, the regulations (Pub 45) state that a vehicle is to be rejected for inspection if :

"An exterior bulb or sealed beam, if originally equipped or installed, fails to light properly, except ornamental lights."

As you can see from this wording, if a vehicle is equipped with fog lights at the time of inspection they are required to work, however, fog lights are not listed as required lighting for passenger vehicles in Table IV of the inspection manual. Because of this, a vehicle could have non-functioning fog lights removed and then be eligible to pass safety inspection.

For ENHANCED SAFETY INSPECTION, it is a little different as the requirements in Pub 645 state that;

"Lighting – All lighting must meet the same specifications as the original vehicle equipment."

This means that if the vehicle was originally equipped with fog lights from the OEM they must be on the vehicle and in working order at the time of the enhanced safety inspection.