MEDINA – More than 100 Medina High School students received free vehicle inspections from AAA staffers during an April 21 event and were informed of any potential safety or mechanical issues before being treated to lunch.

Kelly O’Riordian, traffic safety program manager for AAA Ohio, said the organization does about two dozen of these events a year at different high schools and that the inspections are both meant to educate students on keeping vehicles safe while informing them they can also get pulled over by police and cited for things like a malfunctioning headlight.

“We want to make sure cars are roadworthy,” she said.

One vehicle that failed the test was the 13-year-old, 213,000-mile Ford Escape driven by Reese Clutter, whose headlights were not working after turning them on.

“They were working last night,” said Clutter, adding at times one headlight had stopped working for awhile before coming back on.

Along with burnt-out bulbs, other common issues found during the inspections included low fluids, low tire pressure, coolant that needs to be drained and balding tires.

Doug Dix, AAA auto technician who helps organize the school events, said about 80 percent of the cars inspected have at least one issue needing to be addressed. He added the event at Medina was the biggest school-related event held by AAA; due to the volume, the vehicles were inspected assembly-line style with long lines after the end of class periods.

In addition to staff from AAA, members of the Medina County Career Center’s auto tech class helped perform the inspections, which included checking fluids, headlights and tire pressure. Instructor Darin Lewis said he thought this was a good community service project for his students and a way to use their skills in a real world setting.

“You’d be surprised how many students don’t know about things like turning on headlights, they’re used to them being automatic,” he said.

All students receiving inspections received a free AAA membership.