EXTRA testing criteria will be included in compulsory vehicle inspections from May 20 this year, although not everyone's cars will be affected.
ITV tests are carried out at official, State-run premises, and are compulsory bi-annually for cars under 10 years old and annually for cars registered a decade or more ago
Private and commercial vehicles are required to undergo a 'technical inspection', or ITV, in Spain – for cars, this becomes mandatory once they are four years old, and takes place every two years.
This is also necessary for those newer than four years old which have been used as hire vehicles or courtesy cars.
Once the car is 10 years old, ITV tests are needed annually.
Driving with an out-of-date ITV, or after the vehicle has failed and not yet been retested, is against the law – as is failing to display a valid ITV sticker (as shown in picture three) on the windscreen.
The ITV procedures handbook is regularly updated, often with new elements to be tested added in – and the latest version comes into effect next month.
Two new criteria are present in the new version 7.7.0., but will not affect all vehicles, and do not require any extra action or cost to the owner.
Only for newer cars
The first of these is the requirement for ITV testing centres to check the eCall system is working properly.
This system was made compulsory for all cars newly registered from 2018 onwards, and is thought to have significantly cut the number of road deaths, since it is designed to send an automatic emergency service alert in the event of a crash.
Owners whose cars have an eCall system are expected to have these checked periodically in any case, so its inclusion in ITV tests now means not having to worry about arranging to do so unless they want to have it examined more than once every two years.
eCall systems feature on cars registered from 2018 onwards. They should be checked regularly to ensure they work properly - but this procedure will now be carried out automatically during your ITV test (photo: Shutterstock)
Cars registered in 2017 or earlier do not have an eCall system as standard, so the new rules will not affect them.
The second change relates to the On-Board Fuel Consumption Meter (OBFCM), but is not a 'test' as such.
Instead, ITV stations will be required to collate anonymous data on how much fuel cars use, and covers petrol or diesel vehicles as well as electric, hybrid and hydrogen.
These data are found in the on-board diagnostics system serial port.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com