WARRANTS OF CAR FITNESS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 48, 12 March 1937, Page 4

WARRANTS OF CAR FITNESS

Danger of Motorists Altering Adjustments iftu tm TQ GARAGES The practice of certain motorists ia^ terfering with the adjustments made regarding lights and brakes after their vehicles had been tested wpte comments «d upon this morning by a garaga pro^i prietor. He said that such a practie* was likcly to lead to trouble, both for the motorists themselves and the gar« age proprietors. "There are quite a number of motprfaU v/ho coine in with their ca,rs; ggt the ligbl* and brakes tested, obtain thf fitieker arul then imraediately tinker about vnlh the adjustments becausq they do not just suit their partieular fawierf, though they are adjusted in accordance wifch the regulatipns,'5 he said. "While this did not m^tter a, great deal as far aa the garageg w^re con cerned in the past, under the new system now in force, whereby a wa.rrant of fitness has to be issued and n careful check is to be made not only o| the reliability of the vehicles .but alSO of the actual work done by the garages, it is a very serious matter for garages. It might easily lead to «, garage losing its authority." Jhe informant said that it wag mainj ly with lights that the "tinker ing about" was done He pointed qut that the lights had to be adjusted at a partieqlar angle so that there is provided a norma! vision at a djstanpe of not less than 150 feet directly in front of the vehiele. Some drivers, it appears, lilce to have their lights showing up a good deal further, feo much so that tfiere was a tepdency for the lights tq be a deilnite nienaee to oncoming traffi§ by reason of thp da?zle. Light on Left Side . Then again o(lier motorists desirei| mofe light directed to the left-hand side of the road, and in. their efforts to briug this about they overlook the fact that there must be normal visipn. at least 150 feet directly in front of the vehiele. "In all probability the Transport Department inspectors will be on the job (shortly testing cars and seeing that the regulations have been complied with," said the garage proprietor, "and if he finds that the lights are not correctly adjuQtod he has the ppwer to penalise severely the garage which issued the warrant, thqugh. when , the warrant was issued the adjustments were correct. Motorisfs will appreeiate that such a positiqn is mpst unfaif and they themselves are xesponsibla," Brake Adjustments Regarding brakes, the informant said that it was not really a question of the owners making further adjustments after the issue of the warrant, as there was always a need for attention to be given to brakes. "In my upinion Ihe brakes of every vehiele should receive attentiop at least once every two months," he said. "This applies as much to the so-called 'week-end' family car as the car put to use every day." His opinion was that there was an ever-increasing tendencv +r>- day to rely too much on the brakes, and in consequence it was necessary to see tha,t the brakes were kept up to the required degree of efficiency. He considered that the wise motorist would be the one who did not content himself by merely waiting until he had to renew thq warrant of fitness every six monthsi