European Directive 2014/45/EU indicates the legal framework for the member states regarding vehicle technical inspections (ITV in Spanish) . In the case of Spain, Article 8 of Royal Decree 920/2017, from 23 October, regulating the ITV in Spain, determines that for such purposes the technical criteria described in the Inspection Procedure Manual for ITV stations is to be followed. This manual develops the technical criteria to be applied to vehicle technical inspections provided in the current regulations, and is periodically reviewed and updated.
Throughout the years, the manual has advanced in the interest of greater safety and has provided or modified criteria according to the technological progress that society requires. Only when the inspection is deemed favorable is the vehicle’s ITV card issued by the ITV station. For this purpose, the manual establishes a classification of defects based on the points and systems inspected and where they are related to the regulatory requirement.
Different aspects related to vehicle technical inspections have been widely studied in the scientific literature. For example, Taneerananon et al. analyzed traffic accidents in Thailand and their relationship with defects detected in the vehicles. They concluded that a proper vehicle inspection can be an effective measure to reduce road accidents.
However, Hoagland andWoolley suggested that improvement in the reliability and technology of modern vehicles reduces the need for an effective vehicle inspection. To reach to this conclusion, they analyzed the effect of eliminating vehicle inspection in the state of New Jersey and found no significant increase in accidents due to detected vehicle defects Martín-delosReyes et al. reviewed the existing literature on the effect of vehicle roadworthiness inspections in road accidents. They highlighted the wide variety of results;
nevertheless, it was concluded that periodic vehicle inspections are associated with a slight reduction in road accidents.
On the other hand, Hudec et al. analyzed the relationship between vehicle technical inspections and the average age of the vehicle fleet in 10 European Union countries. The conclusions drawn differed greatly depending on the country analyzed. Although for each state the premise remains that the older the vehicle fleet, the higher the number of technical defects found in the inspection, this does not hold similar between countries. In other words, the country with the oldest vehicle fleet is not necessarily the one with the highest number of defects found in inspections.
Narváez-Villa et al. developed three artificial intelligence models to analyze and predict the kilometers traveled by a vehicle based on vehicle inspection data. This information that can be useful to propose and revise different policies and regulations in the area of road safety.
Alonso et al. analyzed the level of compliance with vehicle technical inspections in Spain and drivers’ attitude with respect to this inspection. Although 99.18% of those surveyed complied with vehicle technical inspections, the main reason for it is to avoid possible fines or sanctions. This highlights the need to better convey the importance of the good condition of vehicles to reduce road accidents among the population.
Khan et al. highlighted the fact that certain countries do not have the necessary public resources to implement the kind of vehicle regulation and inspection measures that could improve the agricultural vehicle fleet in operation and thus improve the productivity and performance of the agricultural system as a whole.
Different studies related to ITV have focused on aspects such as road accidents, age of the vehicle fleet, or drivers’ attitude, but none of them have assessed the possible reduction of the environmental impact associated with these vehicle technical inspections.
This article proposes studying the possible relationship between technical inspections of agricultural vehicles and the reduction of environmental impacts.
In the case of agricultural vehicles, there are different emissions standards regulated by the European Union:
* Phase I/II: The regulation of agricultural diesel vehicles took place from 1999 in Phase I and from 2001 to 2004 in Phase II.
* Phase III/IV: Phase III for agricultural tractors was adopted in 2005 and entered into force from 2006 to 2013. Phase IV entered into force in 2014.
* Phase V: Phase V was proposed in 2016 and entered into force in 2019 for engines below 56kW and above 130 kW. In 2020 it was enforced for engines between 56 and 130 kW.
The evolution of these emissions standards implies that new tractors replacing the ones that do not pass the vehicle technical inspections will have lower emissions and therefore lead to a lower environmental impact.
One of the most widespread methodologies used to assess the environmental impact of any product, process, or service is life cycle assessment. Life cycle assessment has been used to study everything from products in the agricultural sector to generation systems in the energy sector [25–28], including products in the construction sector.
The aim of this article is to analyze the possible effect of technical inspections of agricultural vehicles on the environmental impact they generate. Emissions regulations for this type of vehicle have evolved over the last few years, and as a result, new tractors have better environmental performance. Considering that serious defects detected in vehicle technical inspections can lead the owner to replace the vehicle with a new one, there is a potential reduction in the environmental impact associated with ITVs, which is studied in this article.

Read the full text of this article below…