Assessing Vehicular Inspection Centers using Multiple Decision-Making Criteria

The process of vehicle inspection in the United Arab Emirates has been investigated in this study using multiple decision-making criteria. The objective was to assess the current situation and set out recommendations to improve vehicle inspection procedure. Inspected mechanical and environmental parameters have been compared among different inspection centers in the country. The assessment included inspection of both light and heavy vehicles as well as vehicles imported through ports. A set of surveys have been designed to collect information about the inspection process, opinion of the inspection technicians, public opinion, and opinion of vehicle inspection experts in the country. The study revealed significant differences among the inspection centers in the different Emirates and even within the same Emirate. It has been found that vehicle inspection forms are not uniform among the seven Emirates, with no Emirates Standards for vehicles safety and environmental inspection. Additionally, vehicle inspection equipments are not unified among the inspection centers and inspection of some important safety issues is not implemented. It was also found that there was no third-party auditing to assure quality control. Moreover, most of the customers did not abide to the rules of vehicle inspection and vehicle maintenance. Keywords-vehicle, inspection, standard, crash, pollution