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Jul 14, 2023

System outage crashes Texas' vehicle inspection system

Get TPR's best stories of the day and a jump start to the weekend with the 321 Newsletter — straight to your inbox every day. Sign up for it here. The Texas Department of Public Safety announced its

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The Texas Department of Public Safety announced its vehicle inspection system experienced issues following an outage on Aug. 23.

DPS said in a release the outage was ongoing and did not allow stations in "safety-only" counties to conduct proper inspections.

While all vehicles registered in Texas are required to receive an annual vehicle inspection, so-called "safety-only counties" only require comprehensive safety inspections, not emissions tests.

Bexar County is considered a "safety-only county."

Gasoline powered vehicles registered in 17 designated counties, including Dallas, El Paso, and Harris counties, require both a safety inspection and emissions testing.

DPS said emissions inspections were not impacted by the outage.

DPS is experiencing issues with the vehicle inspection system which does not allow stations in safety-only counties to conduct inspections. Emission inspections are not impacted. Station license renewal applications are also unavailable. We are working to resolve the issue.

The outage could potentially impact vehicle registrations, which require an up-to-date vehicle inspection.

DPS did not indicate when the outage may be resolved.