NCT changes - tinted windows and noise

Changes to the NCT with effect from June 2011:

21. Annual testing of vehicles over 10 years old
At present two thirds of cars aged 10 years and older presented for a test do not pass first time. These older vehicles are more likely to be involved in a collision. Almost half (47%) of collisions that occurred in 2007 involved vehicles that were 9 years old or more. From 1 June 2011 annual testing of cars over 10 years old will commence. Cars over 10 years old will be issued an annual certificate after this date.

http://www.rsa.ie/NEWS/News/MINISTER_FOR_TRANSPORT_ANNOUNCES_CHANGES_TO_THE_NATIONAL_CAR_TEST_(NCT).html

The 47% figure they mention wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that there are more 10+ year old cars on the road than newer ones.

Cars that are 10 years old or more are "more likely to be involved in a collision", what the hell has this got to do with the NCT, that's just a ridiculous statement.

Who comes up with this crap :rolleyes:

kippy

daRobot wrote: »

Spot on

I've 35% tints on mine, so hopefully i'll be ok. Never had a problem with night driving, but I can see how a lower tint level would restrict vision for sure. Limo tints (5%) being legal on the fronts here, had to change. It's dangerous.

The problem is with this though, is that it'll just be another thing that's changed for the NCT and then changed back. Exhausts can be changed easily, and tints can be removed and refitted for less then 100euro.

Indeed but the people with 10 year old plus cars will need to be changing them on and off annually due to the new rules in relation to annual NCTs for 10 year old + cars.

I think its great these have both been added to the NCT.
I've no isses with people with "loud" exhausts at all, its when they are pricking around at late at night keeping or waking everyone up that I have the issue.

c4cat

hellboy99 wrote: »

What does a loud exhaust have to do with the safety and road worthiness of a car :rolleyes:

Its fecking annoying noise pollution, which most members of the public does not want to listen to

colm_mcm

hopefully they clamp down on Lexus lights and stickers in the future!

Absurdum

Dangerous driving is dangerous driving, this is nothing but populist nonsense.

hellboy99 wrote: »

What does a loud exhaust have to do with the safety and road worthiness of a car :rolleyes:

Safety of others, hearing damage would be the first thing that pops into my head.

Even some of the Dublin Buses and one or two types of Bus Eireann buses have extremely loud engines that cant not cause hearing damage to people at bus stops for example.

According to EU law, at work you should only be exposed to 87db for 8 hours a day before hearing damage becomes serious. The state of California I think have put a ban on exhaust systems that bring the noise over 95db. The exhausts they are trying to get rid of must be louder then this so keep that in mind.

For every 3db you go up the actual perceived volume doubles and the amount of time you can listen to it before the hearing damage is serious according to the EU halves. So from 8 hours at 87db it goes down to just over an hour at 95db.

An ordinary conversation is 60db. 90 db is 8 times as loud and 100db is 16 times as loud.

And I believe the EU have changed it recently to 85db for 8 hours.

Exhausts now are at crazy volumes and its a welcome initiative to get rid of the bloody things.

Whether it's window tints, loud exhausts, your plates not displaying the county above reg etc.... it's all nonsense. People are forgetting that the NCT was originally brought in to test the road worthiness of your car, ie. servere rust on the chassis, faulty brakes etc... it's not to check the "cosmetics of your car" :rolleyes:

hellboy99 wrote: »

Whether it's window tints, loud exhausts, your plates not displaying the county above reg etc.... it's all nonsense. People are forgetting that the NCT was originally brought in to test the road worthiness of your car, ie. servere rust on the chassis, faulty brakes etc... it's not to check the "cosmetics of your car" :rolleyes:

Well, you are wrong to say that. Its not checking the cosmetics at all. Its checking the viability with regards to the window and volume of the car with the exhaust. If that effects the aesthetics, tough.

I dont think anyone is forgetting what it was originally intended for. I think its a realisation that additional factors have to be considered as the the technology moves on. And they are additional factors, its not replacing any of the original checks that the NCT was created to do.

SIX PACK

hellboy99 wrote: »

What does a loud exhaust have to do with the safety and road worthiness of a car :rolleyes:

Noise pollution mate someone has to enforce those changes gardai have enough to be doing. personally Iv nothing against Noisy exhuasts but their is some idiots who drive around built up areas with really noisy exhuasts in 2nd gear foot to the floor... which just takes the piss altogether

But i do love the sound from a subaru engine they should be exempt from those new rules Lol
As for tinted windows they should be allowed to a certain tint % percentage

pajo1981

bbk wrote: »

For every 3db you go up the actual perceived volume doubles

Not true dude. You peceive sound logarithmically: 20dB sounds twice as loud as 10dB but requires 10 times the energy; 103db sounds 3% louder than 100dB but requires approx twice the energy.

and the amount of time you can listen to it before the hearing damage is serious according to the EU halves. So from 8 hours at 87db it goes down to just over an hour at 95db.

True, but because the energy levels double not the perception.

SpannerMonkey

i dont mind loud exhausts on an appropriate car (sports car )they are usually factory fitted

but i hate them on boy racer jap cars they really get under my skin i mean why its just STUPID !! if you want a car that is faster buy one stop pretending. so i really welcome that law
as for window tints i agree with it as long as its not a all out ban as a lot of luxury cars have a light tint factory installed ,
i am in favour of heavy tints being banned

Johnny Utah

Money making racket. Joke!

Why don't we have an nct-type test for some of our crap roads, some of which resemble the surface of Mars with all the potholes and craters.

colm_mcm

how much profit do you reckon is made on a €50 NCT?

SIX PACK wrote: »

Noise pollution mate someone has to enforce those changes gardai have enough to be doing. personally Iv nothing against Noisy exhuasts but their is some idiots who drive around built up areas with really noisy exhuasts in 2nd gear foot to the floor... which just takes the piss altogether

"Gardai have enough to be doing", like what ? No sign of any gardai out my way and since Xmas i've had to listen to quads, scramblers and mini motorbikes from 9 in the morning till late, day in day out :mad:.
When out driving now you need eyes in the back of your head as they're on the road with them all over the place or cutting out in front of you. There are one or two loud exhaust cars round here but at least I don't have to listen to them 24/7, seven days a week.

colm_mcm wrote: »

how much profit do you reckon is made on a €50 NCT?

Obviously not enough seeing as the new crowd that have taken over wanted to charge €75 :rolleyes:

Cosmo K

hellboy99 wrote: »

Obviously not enough seeing as the new crowd that have taken over wanted to charge €75 :rolleyes:

Source?

Johnny Utah

colm_mcm wrote: »

how much profit do you reckon is made on a €50 NCT?

It's a captive market (ie. everyone has to do it) and they have the monopoly!

kippy

Johnny Utah wrote: »

It's a captive market (ie. everyone has to do it) and they have the monopoly!

Captive all right.
They're not doing too bad based on some of the figures I have seen!

http://www.businessworld.ie/livenews.htm?a=2529501;s=rollingnews.htm
Thats the most recent I can find.
Bear in mind that based on the fact that there will be far more "older" cars held onto in the next few years and that 10 year old cars will be subject to annual tests, wages of their staff dropping and the testing fee at the very least remain static, I cant see those profits dropping.

JHMEG

colm_mcm wrote: »

how much profit do you reckon is made on a €50 NCT?

80 pound.. that's what the fella who sold me the 8 inch exhaust for me twin cam told me.. its all a racket

pajo1981 wrote: »

Not true dude. You peceive sound logarithmically: 20dB sounds twice as loud as 10dB but requires 10 times the energy; 103db sounds 3% louder than 100dB but requires approx twice the energy.

True, but because the energy levels double not the perception.

Alright, "perceive" was the wrong word to use.

The point I was trying to make was that with every 3dB raise on the decibel meter that the NCT people may be using you get a doubling of sound intensity, what's hitting your ear drum.

Taking psychoacoustics out of it (ie the 10dB double) the main point was the objective change in sound intensity from 87dB to 95dB which is a 6.2ish fold increase in the sound intensity from being in your office to listening to one of those idiots with a stupid exhaust on a tiny engined car.

Psychoacoustics explains why so many youngsters listen to their iPod so loud and get tinnitus so early on in life and is probably the reason behind the exhaust as well.

ScouseMouse

stevenmu wrote: »

I have to confess, I don't see how removing tint from windows and making exhausts quieter will make idiots suddenly start driving properly. But I'm sure they know what they're doing.

Because they rally around, showing off, thinking they are the dogs bollix.

This will bring them down to earth with a bump.

superscouse wrote: »

Because they rally around, showing off, thinking they are the dogs bollix.

This will bring them down to earth with a bump.

Yeah, sure the reason they floor it is so people can hear their noise. It cant be because of how fast they are moving.:P

ScouseMouse

I expected to get roasted for my comments.

I didnt realise so many people thought the same way as me.

colm_mcm wrote: »

I suppose, exhaust noise is something they want to control and integrating it into the NCT is much cheaper and convenient than having a seperate test.

What will happen if they change exhaust for test and change back and the are stopped by gardai? Is their NCT valid then?

Car Mad wrote: »

and its not to make noise and piss people off its for performance

and what is it for then

Cosmo K wrote: »

Source?

I read it somewhere last year, i'll see if i can find it. I was said to me too by a friend who has a mate that works in an NCT centre.

The crowd that have taken it over, Applus+ which operate the ITV (NCT) in Spain were told by Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, that an increase in the current test and retest fees were ruled out for 2010. So does that mean it could be going up in 2011 ?

Price for ITV (NCT) in Spain is €32.05 for a petrol car and €36.44 for a diesel. Retest is around €20.

All vehicles in Spain must periodically undergo a technical inspection. This will include Cars, Motorcycles, Caravans, Vans, Mopeds, in fact anything which travels on the road with wheels.

Motorcycles

Up to 5 years old - exempt
Over 5 years - every 2 years

Private Vehicles

Up to 4 years old - exempt
Four to 10 years - every 2 years
Over 10 years - every 1

Caravans
Up to 6 years - exempt
Over 6 years - every 2 years

iamskippy wrote: »

What will happen if they change exhaust for test and change back and the are stopped by gardai? Is their NCT valid then?

Good question, afterall if you're suppose to declare to your insurance provider any modifactions made to your car, if not you can get into difficulties when it comes to a claim.

What is a visible E mark on tyres?

hi_im_fil

People are swapping over exhausts and decats to pass the NCT at the moment and refit the performance parts again afterwards. The NCT is still valid. All the NCT tests is the roadworthiness of a car on a particular day.