> California appears to have an annual safety inspection
I'm pretty sure you're mistaken. In many urban counties, there's an every other year emissions inspection (Smog Check), but that's not looking for safety issues. And for most post-2000 cars, it's a quick visual inspection under the hood, read the ODB-II emissions readiness status, and pump the throttle and look for smoke (might be diesel only), older cars that are 1975 or newer get a probe in the tailpipe at idle and 15?mph on a dyno, even older cars don't get checked.
I'm pretty sure you're mistaken. In many urban counties, there's an every other year emissions inspection (Smog Check), but that's not looking for safety issues. And for most post-2000 cars, it's a quick visual inspection under the hood, read the ODB-II emissions readiness status, and pump the throttle and look for smoke (might be diesel only), older cars that are 1975 or newer get a probe in the tailpipe at idle and 15?mph on a dyno, even older cars don't get checked.