California C4 owners to face tougher Smog Check and other bad stuff 8:04 PM 2/7/2004
The environmental jihadists are at it again...trying to force your older Corvette off the road. Last year, right after the modification of SB708 to eliminate repeal of the 30-year rolling exemption to the Smog Check and that bill's signing by then-Gov. Davis, many people who watch environmental legislation as it applies to car enthusiasts, predicted that the liberal environmentalists who control the California legislature and various administrative bodies, such as the California Air Resources Board, would not give up. They were right!
A recent public meeting held by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) revealed many proposals which will have direct, negative impact on owners of older Corvettes and other enthusiast cars along with vehicles owned by lower income persons. The proposals will focus significant regulatory attention on emissions reductions from older vehicles.
The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) maintains that such proposals are based upon a flawed computer model, erroneous assumptions and the use of biased data that is unfairly and illogically skewed by the emissions of a small number of vehicles in any model year.
Now...are you sitting down? If not, do that first.
The measures the CARB and the CA legislature want to become law include stricter standards for the Smog Check emissions-testing program. This means that not only will your 60s or early 70s Corvette have to be tested to verify it meets emissions standards, but your car may have to meet a standard more stringent than the one it had to meet when they it manufactured. Also, get ready for a new round of requirements forcing you to install "retrofit devices." Don't know what a "retrofit device" is? Well, remember back in the mid-70s? California tried to force retrofit of emissions devices to older vehicles not originally equipped with them? The program was a failure and it will be a failure again if CARB tries to implement it.
These stricter standards will apply to newer vehicles as well. Expect stricter standards for just about anything older than five model years. CARB wants to do this because it will increase the amount of older vehicles forced off the road without making CARB and the CA legislature address the controversial political issues of mandatory scrappage (ie: confiscation) of vehicles which are not considered by most California voters to be "old cars."
But wait....there's more. CARB wants an expansion of the "enhanced Smog Check" program to include more areas and to new vehicle types, such as diesels and all-wheel drive cars and trucks. It wants annual (versus the, current, every two years) testing of vehicles more than 15 years old (*that means everything older than 1989*). CARB wants the use of roadside remote-sensing devices, vastly expanded vehicle-scrappage programs and last, but certainly not least, our friends at CARB once again want to eliminate the 30-model-year rolling exemption from the Smog Check which is currently allowed for cars built prior to the 1975 model year.
SEMA presented formal comments which described the inherent flaws in these proposals and offered alternatives which would yield real, verifiable and cost-effective emissions reductions without causing unnecessary harm to vehicle hobbyists and low-income motorists.
At this point, it is unknown how SEMA's comments were taken by the CARB. I'm sure we'll hear more about this issue as 2004 goes on, but...mark my words....if even half of these proposals end up as law, some of those owning older Corvettes in California are going to be either be scrapping them, selling them out of state or donating them to museums and any of those choices are the objective of CARB and the environmentalists who control state government. Don't kid yourself, these people hate cars. They believe significant political capital will come the more of these regulations can be put in place. They believe continued and increasing regulation of motor vehicle emissions is easier to accomplish politically than regulation of industrial, utility or other non-vehicular sources of emissions.
Now some might say that the recent election of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will prevent this type of regulation getting very far. I say...don't be too complacent. Schwarzenegger is a fiscal conservative but a social and environmental moderate. He needs a ton of bargaining capital to trade with the liberal-controlled legislature if he wants to further his fiscal agenda. My guess is, those of these proposals which will not cost the state a great deal to put in place will be supported by Schwarzenegger so....if you don't like the idea of this significant change to California exhaust emissions law as it applies to older vehicles, NOW is the time to start writing the CARB, your state legislators and the Governor.
Lastly, those reading this outside California might be saying, "Oh this is just another one of Halverson's right-wing, alarmist posts about the Smog Check." Well...keep in mind that when it comes to motor vehicle emissions regulation which affects car enthusiasts, California sets the pace. Take a look at how many other states now test the emissions of older vehicles in the same manner as does CA? Take a look at how many other states want old cars off the road, as does CA.
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H. Halverson technical writer
Scary stuff
-------------------- 2002 35th LE #3117 SS#6709 A4 SLP stuff: CAI, OEM Airbox, Smooth Bellow, Y-pipe, Bolt-On SFC, Driveshaft Loop, CME, 35th Grille Hotchkis Red STB, Power antenna, Power Slot rotors
1994 Corvette LT1 Coupe Polo Green II Camber Brace, Edelbrock IAS shocks Posts: 185 | From: Livermore, CA | Registered: Dec 2002
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But they are all for electric cars[Electricity produced by burning COAL and Fossil fuels]and Hydrogen powered vehicles[which cost 2 X more to produce than it delivers in energy].
Idiots,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
-------------------- 94 Z28/UltraZ Hood & Box/2 1/2 Drop/52mmTB & Bypass/160 Stat/Pulley/ Catback & pipe/Shifter/Kirkey seats/5 point belts/WW Wing/Ford9"-4.11- Detroit locker-Strange axles/ZEKE'S Heads & LT4 HC/Stainless Headers & Y/1LE Panhard/BMR SFCs-STB-Relo Brackets-Tunnel Brace-Adj Tq arm-adj Sway bar-Adj LCAs/ Line lock & LT4 PP & clutch/Monster tach & light/T REX F Pump/T shifter grip/DS Loop/A Great Friend MIKE !!24/08/03=12.487@113.486/1.785 60ft. 19/10/03=12.477@113.030 /1.807 60ft. 15/05/04=12.438@112.269/1.767 60ft www.timelord3.com www.stealthperf.com www.timelord3.com Posts: 558 | From: Loretteville,Mars | Registered: Feb 2002
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I certainly hope Michigan doesn't go this far. Always a slap in the face of people who like to have fun and appreciate history. I certainly hope this fails in California. Posts: 2841 | From: Westland, MI | Registered: Apr 2003
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FireChicken
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posted
quote:Originally posted by TimeLord: But they are all for electric cars[Electricity produced by burning COAL and Fossil fuels]and Hydrogen powered vehicles[which cost 2 X more to produce than it delivers in energy].
Idiots,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Yes, its because they are stupid. They see short term, simple minded answers as the key to long term, complex problems.
Morons. But then again, they are politicians, and what are they good for?
Getting elected Getting re-elected Thats it.
Posts: 686 | From: Texas: Hullabaloo, Caneck! Caneck! | Registered: Aug 2003
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You would think that the % of 30 year-old cars on the road today, plus the fact that usually they only see a limited amount of miles each year, would make this new proposal not worth the time and money! Can't they find some REAL problems to fix!
-------------------- '02 SOM SS Camaro #3111 M6, Hurst, every GM option Mods: !CAGS, SLP CAI, SLP lid, K & N filter, SLP bellows, power antenna, air temp module, 160 thermostat, Hotchkis sig. series STB, SLP bolt on SFC's, engine plaque, NGK 55 plugs, Mobil 1, Custom rear deck mat, MBA letters on back, Raptor shift light, Silverstar bulbs, Lou's short stick, QTP cut out, SLP decal,Auto Headlights Disable Mod, Decklid Hatch Spring Mod, Drill mod for clutch hydraulics, stronger M6 parts added, Painted calibers, 4 Drilled & Slotted rotors, SS floor mats, SSOA member M02-3111 Posts: 641 | From: northern Delaware | Registered: Jul 2002
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quote:Originally posted by CamaroSCG: You would think that the % of 30 year-old cars on the road today, plus the fact that usually they only see a limited amount of miles each year, would make this new proposal not worth the time and money! Can't they find some REAL problems to fix!
I agree with you. There are not that many old cars driven on a daily basis. Posts: 5682 | From: Dearborn,Mi. | Registered: Feb 2002
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quote:Originally posted by TimeLord: But they are all for electric cars[Electricity produced by burning COAL and Fossil fuels]and Hydrogen powered vehicles[which cost 2 X more to produce than it delivers in energy].
Idiots,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
which these coal/ fossil fuel companies have less stringent standards than the average car covered under these laws so in effect electric cars cause more pollution .. only the pollution comes out of the power plant instead oif the car .... Posts: 694 | From: Newport, RI (Middletown Technically) | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
Yeah, they dont want to go after the large industrial polluters since they have more $$ in their pockets to pay off the politicians with.
I do agree though, that there should be regulations on some of the older cars. Here in Oregon, anything newer than 1975 gets tested and always will (if you are in the DEQ areas of Portland, Medford, or Eugene.) I think the entire country should be tested. Its amazing how many dirty cars there are out there. And yes, Diesels are a HUGE part of it. Have you ever followed a diesel and had your eyes burn and cant breathe?? And they say they dont pollute!
And why not test the AWD vehicles? Do they not make emissions?
Here in Oregon they just scan the PCM on all OBD2 cars to see if they are clean or not. I kinda like that idea
But man, they are trying to go WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY to far. The problem is if California passes something this radical, then the rest of the country is soon to follow suit. Bummer.
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