Vehicle Safety Inspection

Our task is to do a safety check on a vehicle and record whether systems meet compliance with New Zealand Vehicle Safety Regulations. All safety check will be carried out on a flat workshop floor, brake test will be on the Rolling Road Dyno.

The Vehicle is a Toyota Caldina 2000 Family Wagon.

We start with External Inspection: this is mainly for lamps and any external projection. This car is compliant with many parts from front lamps, indicators, high stop lamp etc...to Door & Hinged Panels, Mudguards and External Projection. External parts that the car doesn't have are Registration Plate Lamp, Rear reflector or any non-purpose lamp. The reason is this is a family wagon, not yet an SUV so it doesn't need a rear reflector, or any external projection needed either.

Internal Inspection: This mainly focus on internal safety features: which includes wipers, sun visors, air bags, ABS self check, all the seat belt and head restrain mechanism, and the Audible warning device. The Internal looks relatively safe and there is no sharp, pointing edges that passenger or driver might bump into.

Chassis Underbody: This test, we need to hoist the car up to a level. Because there are many things to visual inspect, so using a torch doing everything by a circle, thus saving time and not missing any link: There are Wheels, Hubs & Axels, steering mechanism, Suspension mechanism, these areas are prone to heavy dust deposit and bolts, linkage corrosion. Depending on the size of the corrosion as specified, you might see some rust, but that might be acceptable if there is no deforming corrosion. The fuel tank & fuel lines and Exhaust system are pretty sensitive area about corrosion and cracks. The condition applied might fail the vehicle if there is even a small crack in the large specified area.
Cable linkages, Brake controls, Lines & hoses must be carefully inspected for leaks, cracks, they can cause serious malfunction or loss of power.
Tyre condition were good, all tires' tread depths are more than 1.5mm, which is pass.

Road brake test: We carry this on a Rolling Road Dyno Tester.
First, some procedure must be followed to carry out the test. The roller computer should be ready and in sync. Drive the front wheels into the roller, slightly accelerate to run with the machine and to straighten the car's direction. Then put the gear in Neural for the Roller to take control, follow the instruction on the monitor to brake. We do the same thing with the rear wheels.
With the handbrake test, we pull the handle smoothly, not a power press like the foot brake.
Here's the result obtained:
Front 9%            or          LF 4.02kN     RF 4.42kN
Park brake 6%   or          LH 1.58kN     RH 1.70kN
Rear 6%             or          LR 2.31kN     RR  2.46kN

The percentage is the brake balance, which is from 20% and below is a pass. Brake force on each wheel shows the imbalance and tells us about the brake bias. Obviously, the brake force is relative to the vehicle power rating and weight.

We didn't carry out the under bonnet test but acquiring VIN and Chassis Number. Because it will take more to determine if the A/F system is within specification. But from a visual perspective, the car we know it runs fine and has been for 11 years.