AUX Lighting? NJ riders

[wvandennoort]

My 2000 K1200LT failed NJ inspection for the first time today. The reason
unapproved aux lighting! I have Piaa and motolights on the bike since 2002 with out any issues. Has anybody had this problem?



Bill Van den Noort
2000 k1200lt.net

[RaffyK]

How do you have them hooked up? I have not heard of this before. You should have driving lights hooked to high beam and fog lights to low beam (Motolight). Maybe they are using car/truck regulations for Motorctycles. That is when high beam is on, the fog lights (in this case Motolights) should be off.

Did they give you an explanation or cite a vehicle code section?

[wvandennoort]

Piaa and Motolights are switched using phoenix switches.
Aux lights were not on during the inspection.

Explanation from the inspector was "lens did not have DOT imprinted on them."
Explanation from the supervisor was " the lights were not DOT approved."

Sounds like the inspectors did no understand some new rule.



Thank
Bill Van den Noort
2000 k1200lt

[BLBantz]

Your mistake was in going to a state inspection center in the first place. For $2.50 your dealer will inspect the bike. None of my cars or bikes have passed state inspection in the last five years. The people are rude and incompetent. A woman at the Westfield station looked at my credentials and walked away without saying a word. After 45 minutes I went looking for her. She was really pissed off that I looked for her and then said she had to check if I needed a face shield with a windshield (you don't). Of course I found her looking for that info in the coffee lounge. Her manager (who was having coffee with her) said I had no right to barge in on them. Needless to say, they failed me. On my Mercedes they said I had no rear brakes. I took the car to my mechanic and he said they were fine. They still failed me. Can't be fixed and can't pass inspection! What to do? Of course this is NJ...so... I paid a guy $75 to pass me. Problem solved. The whole thing is politically motivated to provide jobs, not safety. Just pay your dealer and be happy. I do.

[Lzyellodog]

This does not surprise me at all. I worked with NJ as a vendor for the DMV. The company I work for makes and supports the computer equipment they use to make their DLs. I know that all of their DMV office managers are political appointments. Sorry to hear about your troubles.

[RVB1019]

There was a story about this in a recent issue of Backroads. What the writer actually did to pass the exam was disconnected the lights and then they passed him. When he got home the next day, he reinserted the bulbs and wrote the article.

In the article, he wrote about how surreal the whole experience was. He rode his bike in for the inspection in full riding gear and failed but a Harley owner in tank top and shorts passed even with his straight pipes.

Yet another reason not to live in NJ!

[Crestwood330]

Born and raised in NJ "the safety state". I hated the state inspection center in Morristown. This was before independent auto shops and dealerships were allowed to handle state inspections. I agree, going to a state inspection center is a waste of time. I think they had some quota for failing a certain amount of vehicles. If your emmissions passed, they would really start nit picking your vehicle apart to find something. If you challenge them and you may never get it passed at that location. Sorry to hear they are still such a PITA up there. I could not wait to get out of NJ and I will never live there again.

If I remember correctly, for lights, legally they only check function and aim of the primary lights and could care less about fog lights, off road lights, etc.