A review of guidelines for automobile safety inspections saw a proposal Friday to lengthen the interval between mandatory checkups and scrap inspection items deemed nonessential or obsolete because of technological advances.
Public management minister Toranosuke Katayama made the recommendations to update the inspection checklist to Chikage Ogi, minister of land, infrastructure and transport.
According to a survey of car owners made by the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, the maintenance ratio -- the ratio of cars that required parts to be changed or repaired -- is less than 5 percent with respect to 35 items on the 56-item checklist that must be gone through every two years.