I was all set to continue with my bathroom theme for today’s Maintenance Monday post, but an incident yesterday inspired me to write about auto maintenance instead.

As I was pulling out of The Home Depot parking lot yesterday, a guy came running up behind us and told me that my left back-up light wasn’t working.  After thanking him and pulling away, I realized how timely this piece of news was.  Yes, it gave me a topic to discuss today but blog topic aside, it happened to drill home something that’s been discussed rather frequently in our home lately.

At 15, The Daughter has a driver’s permit and will be eligible to test for her driver’s license in less than 6 months.  She, and by default The Son because he’s usually also frequently a passenger, has been a captive audience for oft repeated mini-lectures from both The Husband and I regarding the importance of respecting and maintaining a vehicle’s safety equipment.

It’s so easy to take a vehicle’s basic safety equipment for granted.  And it’s downright scary to consider the big price that can be exacted when something very small is overlooked or neglected.

Back in the early 80’s when I was learning to drive, our state required each registered vehicle to have an annual safety inspection and an emissions test.  These inspections and tests were conducted by any state certified auto repair/servicing station.  Nowadays, our state requires a much more comprehensive emissions test every other year and car owners have to have the test done at one of only a handful of testing stations around the state.  The safety inspection requirement is long gone.

Based on the number of cars I’ve seen in the past few years with some or all of their brake lights not working, getting rid of the required safety inspection was not necessarily a good idea.  Not that I’m advocating reinstatement of a state-required annual test.  My point simply is that if you own a car, you should make a point of checking your safety equipment on a regular basis.  I think that it’s impossible to over-estimate the importance of such simple equipment as your brake lights, turn signals, windshield wipers, and the frequently-overlooked wiper fluid.

Today, after picking up a package of two bulbs, The Son and I made a project of replacing the burned-out back-up bulb and completing a safety-equipment checklist on The Tank.  Here’s a list of the equipment we checked:

• parking lights (front and back)
• headlights (regular beams and high beams)
• tail lights
• brake lights (all three)
• back-up lights
• license plate lights
• right blinker (front and back)
• left blinker (front and back)
• horn
• wiper blades (don’t forget your rear blade, if applicable)
• wiper fluid level

A vehicle safety equipment check requires a partner — it’s a great job for ‘tweens and ‘teens.  If you don’t have one at home, enlist your spouse or significant other.

After replacing the burned-out bulb, The Son and I discovered that one of my tail-lights is also out.  It’s a secondary light — part of the wrap-around portion of my rear lights.  Still, I’ll have to go back to the auto parts store to pick up the right bulb for that light so The Son and I can replace it as well.  If you’re the type that likes to learn from others’ mistakes, take a lesson from my experience and make sure you do a complete safety equipment test before buying an necessary parts and taking your car apart for required repairs.

Not everyone is the do-it-yourself type and into replacing their own burned-out bulbs — though it’s a much less expensive alternative to taking your car to a professional.  But even the most technically-challenged car owner can complete their own safety equipment test.

Be sure to put a safety equipment test on your to-do list then come back and leave a comment when you’re done!

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