Vehicle Inspection System Back Online Following Outage

Crowdstrike Update Caused Outage

The Registry of Motor Vehicles said Wednesday morning that the vehicle inspections Massachusetts tag-holders must have completed once a year have resumed, five days after a global tech outage knocked out the system used by service stations around the state.

The statewide vehicle inspection system became unavailable Friday as a result of the CrowdStrike outage that made a mess of air travel and complicated operations for thousands of businesses. The Department of Transportation said Tuesday night that “most inspection station site workstations are now operable” and would be available to conduct inspections starting Wednesday.

“The Registry continues to coordinate with its vendor, OPUS, and inspection sites with remaining issues.  Meanwhile, the RMV is giving vehicle owners who need re-tests on failed inspections more time to get them,” MassDOT said.

Owners of cars that failed inspection prior to July 19 will have extra time to get their vehicles retested. MassDOT said the RMV will “extend anyone whose reinspection date expired between 7/19/2024 through 7/31/2024 until 8/10/2024 for their free re-inspection.”

The inspection system is no stranger to outages and downtime. In the spring of 2021, the state’s vendor at the time (Wisconsin-based Applus Technologies) was targeted with a malware attack that kept inspections here and in a handful of other states unavailable for weeks. And in 2017, connectivity issues with the rollout of the Applus program left hundreds of service stations unable to participate in the program that regulates vehicle safety and emissions.