More than half of the Iranian vehicles do not meet the standards to acquire a premium technical inspection certificate introduced by the Department of Environment to curb the emission of air pollutants like carbon monoxide.
CEO of Tehran Vehicle Technical Inspection Bureau said 70% of cars visiting vehicle inspection centers are not fit to gain the premium technical inspection certificate, Mizan Online reported.
The premium certificate has higher standards than that of the normal technical inspection certificates. While in the normal tests, vehicles’ emissions are monitored in a low-speed performance, but for earning the premium certificate the carbon monoxide emission of cars is assessed at 2,500 rpm.
Navab Hosseini-Manesh added that 45-50% of the rejected vehicles do not receive the certificate due to the high emission rates and 20-25% are refused since they do not meet safety standards.
The premium technical inspection certificate was made mandatory this year for vehicles seeking permits to enter the restricted traffic zones.
Restricted zones refer to the city center of Tehran where the municipality has limited the number of cars plying in the central business district to prevent traffic and pollution.
Other than emergency vehicles, police and public transportation vehicles, other motor vehicles are banned from entry and must pay a fee to enter the zone.
Premium certificates are issued in 13 inspection centers.
According to Hosseini-Manesh, locally manufactured pickups significantly do poorly in the tests. Some of the models with high failure rates in the tests are Paykan, Pride and Nissan pickup models.
The Nissan model is a pickup produced since the 1970s, but no longer under the Japanese company’s license.
Paykan, a locally popular sedan based on the UK Hillman Hunter, is no longer manufactured but the pickup based on the car is still produced.
Pride is SAIPA’s infamous city car. Produced for nearly 30 years, it is the first vehicle singled out by the public and environmentalists in a discussion on pollution and safety hazards. Pride was originally developed for Japanese and South Korean markets in the late 1980s.
The car was widely sold in the United States as a Ford Festiva in the early 1990s. It entered the Iranian market in 1993 under license from Kia and continues to be a cash cow for the company.
Cars without technical inspection certificates have to pay 220,000 rials ($4.8) to receive a premium certificate. Vehicles, which already have already gone through the normal tests, can pay half the price to acquire the premium certificate.
High Hopes
When the higher standards were first introduced in January 2016, Hosseini-Manesh had predicted that 30% of vehicles would fail to obtain the certificate, which number currently stands at 70%.
The head of Tehran’s Vehicle Technical Inspection Bureau noted that the production platforms on which many cars are manufactured must undergo fundamental changes so as to make the cars roadworthy.
“Some cars, including Peugeot 405, must go undergo changes that would cost 5 to 10 million rials ($111 to $222),” he said.
Hosseini-Manesh said the municipality has asked DOE to lighten certain provisions in the premium scheme, as the limitations are far superior to the current technology used domestically and many cars cannot meet the criteria.
The municipality has suggested the premium technical inspection be limited to major cities grappling with air pollution.
This is while the public and environmentalists are exasperated by the life-threatening pollution, especially in winters when the air is hazardous for days on end.
Where Things Stand
This year, Tehran experienced the poorest autumnal air quality in four years. It has been reported that 80% of the pollution emanate from automotive sources.
Overall, the capital went through 43 days of unhealthy air quality in autumn while the total number of unhealthy days was 30 last autumn.
Exposure to particle pollution is a public health hazard. When inhaled, particle pollution can travel deep into the lungs and cause or aggravate heart and lung diseases.
According to statistics released by the Health Ministry on March 7, every year 30,000 people die in Iran due to pollution.
While it is true that officials have failed to take sufficient measures to tackle the life-threatening problem, the impact of citizens’ lifestyle cannot be ignored on the worsening air pollution.
Residents of Tehran Province alone consume more gas than Turkey, a country with a population of 80 million.
According to Tehran Mayor Mohammad Ali Najafi, public transportation only handles 22% of urban travel.
A change in transportation infrastructures and public culture go hand in hand, if improvements are to take place.
Safety Standards
Statistics reported by the European Union show 10% of all car accidents resulting in death are caused by technical problems. The numbers have far-reaching significance when the number of vehicles that does not meet the safety standards are considered.
According to Roads Minister Abbas Akhoundi, there were more than 19 million vehicles and 12 million motorcycles in the country in the fiscal ending March 2017.
Hosseini-Manesh said only 42% of the 19 million vehicles, which constitute 8 million, visited inspection centers.
Between March and October 2017, 580,097 vehicles have gone to inspection centers, 12% of which have failed to pass the tests.
According to a report released by the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization, with 43 people perishing in car accidents on a daily basis in Iran, the number of those injured due to car accidents has witnessed 0.5% year-on-year increase during the first half of the current fiscal which ended on Sep. 22.
