Baja fogs fail state safety inspection and a $0.90 (temporary) fix

My truck was due for its annual safety inspection for the state of Virginia. Inspector at the service station tells me I’m non-compliant and slaps a lovely pink Rejection sticker on my windshield. He decided to care that my fog lights have no DOT/SAE number. He’s not wrong, they’re Baja Designs Squadron LEDs. But this is annoying AF because he and I both know I’m only going to change them to pass the inspection and then it goes right back to how it is. There is no point to this. Last year same lights no one cared. I don’t use them except in the woods and back roads.

First thought is I’ll go home and pull them. Our conversation: “Will it pass with no fog lights?” “Yes”. “Even with the holes in the bumper?” “Yes”. But then I thought about putting more wear on the plastic clips and them starting to jiggle. “What do people with big light bars do?” “Required to be covered on public streets, have to be covered for inspection” “Riiiiight....”

I was headed to the hardware store anyway so I bought 2 3-inch PVC plumbing caps for $0.45 each. Take em home and take 1/8 or so off the flange with a dremel until they fit into the trim. Hit em with a shot of the bed liner spray I had sitting in my garage and they’re actually not bad looking for 5 min of work. Too bad I didn’t care enough to fully remove the price sticker first. Good thing they’re only going to disgrace my truck for 10 minutes. Little strip of VHB to hold em in place for the drive back to the station. Pass the inspection. Remove the caps. I’ll keep them for next year though in case I run into Barney Fife running the inspection lane again.

Thought I’d pass it along in case anyone else has a similar issue.

 

Oh boy, I just slapped a pair on, let's see what Texas says in May

 

VA is so lame, they once failed a truck I had because I had a 2" cowl induction hood.


Good temp fix on the lights!

 

Texas will fail you for not having a row of them across the bumper

 

BD is in the process of making an SAE compliant light, until then, they are what they are built for, off road.

Glad you found a cheap "fix".

 

Now that is funny.

 

Yeah I have no issue with the lights. I knew what I was getting when I bought them and they are Awesome lights. I might not like them as much if they were SAE. As is it’s like having a second set of high beams. I just think I should be allowed to use the on/off switch to stay legal with them just like with high beams.

 

Looks really good. Way to make lemonade!

Does Baja Designs sell covers? Maybe you've got a good weekend money-maker....

 

Nice fix.

 

Baja Designs does sell nice looking ones for $10 (rock guards) and if you wanted to keep them covered I’d get theirs.

 

That’s great idea! I’m going to have to do it for next year. I just took mine out and went back with holes in the bumper to pass this year, it was annoying because they passed it last year.

 

Do you have to pay for the inspection? I always wondered why alot of other states have this inspection, but money hungry smog check, high reg fees, gas tax California doesnt....

Not that I want it, just curious.

 

Yep, $16 fee (or TAX I should say because that's what it really is) for inspection and shops hate to do it because there's nothing in it for them unless they find an issue.

 

YUP! Two seperate kinds too although one is every other year IIRC.

 

I have seen people in Texas with their led bars on while running on hwy. A couple of weeks ago I accidently hit my bar switch when trying to turn led bed lights on a tailgater. I drove about 15 miles with 42" & 30" bars on. A Dallas sheriff passed me in left lane and kept on going. I was lighting his rear up. I was wondering why the hwy signs were so bright. Then I saw my switch illuminated. I was like oh shit. Wonder how many people I pissed off.

 

Never had an issue with mine. And I’m in Cali-Austin. It would take a real A-hole to actually check that.

 

I was told by Baja that the SAE compliant fogs will be more than a lense change. They are planning on offering a modification program for those of us that have existing Squadrons. That would be a class move on their part. Sloan

 

Nice fix

 

I feel the same way, we are on the same page. I went with wide cornering but use them like high beams.

I believe it. I was in Texas once. I wish I lived there!

X2!

 

Yeah that inspection sounds pretty inconvenient. At least it's not 70 bucks like our smog checks. I guess the Cali version of this fix is black tape over our check engine lights haha. Can't do that stuff anymore though with OBD II and digital screens tho.

Meanwhile any clown can drive around with headlight out, no bumper, cracked windshield and a donut "not for highway" spare tire as long as it meets the smog requirement haha.

 

Yeah it is $16 every year and mostly just a pain. I waited an hour for the first inspection and 45 min for the “reinspection”. Thankfully the reinspection was only $1. I sometimes think this state is as California as California. This, the radar detector ban, personal property tax on vehicles ($1100+ a year to own my truck!).

They mandate trailer inspections every year too and most of the inspection stations are small service stations. Trying to find a place that I can get into with my travel trailer is a PITA. Plus they are supposed to pull wheels and hubs to check bearings and I hate having a guy getting paid almost nothing removing and reinstalling key parts.

 

Ha, you to? Over 1k tax here as well to own my truck..such a crock. The trailer inspection is a huge pain, if they want to require this they need to have stations specifically for it. I have a 22ft car trailer and camper, these small service stations are not set up for me to bring this equipment there. Like you said they are not getting paid much to do this and are not happy about it as well. Register your trailers in Maine and skip the hassle...

 

Is that possible? Do you have to have a Maine address? I keep my stuff well maintained and don’t need the hassle of proving it to VA.

 

Same here, I got tired of it. https://mainetrailerregistrations.com/

https://staabagency.com/

There's a couple other companies that do it as well in Maine, start looking at Tractor trailer tags and you will notice a good majority of them are registered to a few key states across the country.

 

Thanks for the info I’ll check into it.

 

Yeah sounds like they get you one way or another no matter what state you're in.

I got some stuff registered in Arizona for your guy's same reasons.

 

That's for sure! Arizona is another one, Uhaul registers all there equipment there for the same reasons.

 

Funny. Years ago I registered a 65’ Bronco with no doors or windshield. Gotta Love Wyoming