The LTO's Motor Vehicle Inspection Scheme is F*cked Up

A broken Subaru differential, a casa-maintained BMW with “weak” brakes, and now a Land Cruiser with an exhaust so loud it will literally kill you. We gave the LTO’s new motor vehicle inspection service or PMVIC the benefit of the doubt. And about a week in, the results are in: we, as motorists, are fucked.

To recall, the LTO came up with the system way back in 2019. It was a system that was going to build up on the emission testing to keep dilapidated and road-unworthy vehicles off the streets. Through a series of tests that comply with international standards (check the full test parameters here), it’s a modernization of the country’s rather archaic vehicle safety standards.

Or so we thought.

Questions first arose about this scheme when the LTO specified the sort of equipment that PMVICs could use. In the original proposal, they specified that only equipment that carried the “CE” or “Conformité Européenne” could be used. This meant that equipment only of European, and weirdly enough, Chinese origin could be used. Despite the Philippine market having predominantly Japanese makes and models, Japanese testing equipment can’t be used (since then, the LTO edited the guidelines to include “CE, ISO, or its equivalent.”)

The next plot twist was that any dealership or existing service center applying to be a PMVIC were turned down. These were, according to the LTO, “self-serving.” Instead, they identified operators who had little or no automotive experience. Take note: those with up to a consanguinity of up to the third degree to LTO’s PMVIC committee were also disqualified.

Casting more doubts, the LTO decided to push through with the PMVIC system in the middle of the pandemic, held public consultations (but didn’t announce it), and signed it into effectivity on December 29, 2020. It largely felt like a midnight signing—the sort of thing that flies below the radar.

And this is where we are today.

Yesterday, a Pampanga business leader Rene Romeo questioned the integrity of the PMVIC after his 2011 BMW Z4 failed the road worthiness test because of its brakes. Quoting the article:

Romero said his driver brought his 2011 BMW Z4 sports car car to the QWIK Motor Vehicle Inspection Center here last January 11 as part of its registration process with the Land Transportation Office. 

Romero said his Z4 is “casa-maintained and well-preserved” after logging some 7,000km. He added that while mounting a new set of tires, he also checked the Z4’s under chassis to make sure that it is in good condition.

After paying the P1,800 for the PMVIC testing fee, his driver was handed Number 85 for his turn at the facility at around 9 in the morning. He said it took three hours before the technicians started the roadworthiness inspection on the Z4.

Romero said he was surprised when his driver informed him that his car failed the testing procedure.

Disappointed, he said he immediately took his car to the BMW dealership in the City of San Fernando to check on the brake system. But after a thorough inspection, the BMW mechanics did not find anything wrong. Romero said he kept a copy of the inspection result from the BMW dealership.

He was able to return to QWIK PMVIC on January 15 to repeat the inspection process, which cost him another P 800. This time, he said, it was the manager who drove the Z4 to the inspection bay. The vehicle got a passing mark.

The same day, a Subaru Forester owner complained on Facebook about how another PMVIC borked his SUV’s center differential after it was treated as a front-wheel drive in the speedometer test.

For the uninitiated, an all-wheel drive vehicle can cook its center differential if the front and rear wheels spin at different speeds too much for too long. It’s for this reason why certain countries like the U.S. and the U.K. forego speedometer tests. It’s just too complicated.

But the biggest PMVIC shit show just happened today.

CAMPI—no not the CAMPI that’s supposed to be looking after the auto industry—but the Clean Air Movement of the Philippines posted on Facebook that a 2017 Land Cruiser failed the inspection for having an exhaust that’s too loud. While the legal standard is pegged at 99 decibels, the SUV supposedly recorded 655.2 decibels during inspection test.

Holy shit. 

If you want to know how impossible this is, that figure from the PMVIC is louder than the Saturn V rocket that sent people to the moon (204 decibels) and even the explosion of the Krakatoa volcano (202 decibels). 210 decibels is enough to pulverize a man’s internal organs, so it’s surprising that the inspector is still alive to give the Land Cruiser a failing grade.

At this point, we know what the DOTr and LTO’s playbook will be. They will say it’s all part of the growing pains of establishing a better, more substantiated road worthiness system. After which, you’ll have a senate inquiry into the matter, grilling the LTO for coming up with such a failure of a system. The LTO then apologies, re-thinks the entire thing, and goes through it once the controversy dies down (or everyone looks in another direction).

This makes us think: why are motorists always subject to experimentation. Shouldn’t the LTO have come up with a properly done system first before fully implementing it? Who loses in the end? If things don’t get resolved the proper way? Us.