New Calif Smog Rules

stlrj · 03-09-2010, 11:29 AM

I just got back from having my Grand Caravan smogged and thought I'd pass along what my "test only" smog guy was saying about what's new for 2011.

Starting then, any owner having tampered with their smog equipment will be fined $5,000 along with a $5,000 fine for the smog guy who didn't catch it or happened look the other way. This is the first time the state is finally going after the owners too and not just the smog shops.

Did the room suddenly get warmer...?

Cheers,

Joe
74 911 w/86 3.2 ( still smog legal )

yelcab1 · 03-09-2010, 11:41 AM

Who will be doing the "catching?" The highway patrol ?

Hugh R · 03-09-2010, 11:59 AM

The CA Air Resources Board sets up remote sensors at on-ramps and has a CHP there to pull you over if have detected emissions that are out of range.

Packy · Packy's Garage

This is horrible! GOD DAMN IT!!!

Evans, Marv · 03-09-2010, 12:52 PM

Is it 1984 yet ???

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

Having fun out there in Kalifornia yet?

I'm SOOOOOOOOO glad I got the F out when I did. It's only gonna' get worse too.

uwanna · 03-09-2010, 12:55 PM

California used to be a beautiful and fun place to live, but with the ultra liberal "Big Brother" government, insane taxes, horrible business climate, and fires/mudslides, it's a no wonder many folks are giving up and leaving! Lived there for a while in the '60s, and loved it, but now I am in Georgia and happy as a clam! Hope I didn't insult all you Cali Pelicans, but I don't understand how you endure.

Grant

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

The upside is the state will be BK in about 3-4 months and won't have any money to enforce this kind of crap. May even need to liquidate assets too (i.e. sell off their roadside monitoring equipment). But then again they'll probably just outsource it like the red light cameras.

Packy · Packy's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

The upside is the state will be BK in about 3-4 months and won't have any money to enforce this kind of crap. May even need to liquidate assets too (i.e. sell off their roadside monitoring equipment). But then again they'll probably just outsource it like the red light cameras.

I'm pretty sure this would help them make money, but who knows. Hopefully they do sell all that evil hardware.

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

Yea, I know the "pilot program" for the roadside smog testers has been going on for at least a couple of years. I agree - this really being about revenue (it is), they'll find a way to keep it, or at least try to. Most likely they'd outsource it, since paying CHP would be awfully hard to justify - or at least it would be if the CA gov't actually believed it was accountable to its subjects... er... "citizens".

But I digress. Seriously guys - good luck out there. It's a damn shame what's happening to CA. I miss the place and it was a gut-wrenching decision to leave a few months back, but when I hear stuff like this it convinces me 100% that I made the right decision.

Not to go too far off-subject, but this is precisely the kind of misplaced prioritization that's killing America. If they'd paid half the attention to the rampant speculation in housing and the outright FRAUD that had been going on instead of developing pilot programs to bust drivers for being 2PPM over their arbitrary emission limits, maybe the state wouldn't be so bad off. Nothin' like fiddling while Rome burns...

One of you lawyer types should challenge this in the courts on the grounds that it unfairly "profiles" drivers. Seriously. The reason that CA has smog checks and not vehicle safety checks is that someone sued on these grounds years ago saying that poor people/minorities disproportionately owned older cars which were more likely to not pass a safety inspection. As such, no safety inspections. I think it's time someone applied the same logic to the smog checks. Don't they unfairly discriminate against poor people/minorities who are more likely to own more poorly maintained/emitting vehicles? It's not fair I tell ya!

Have fun with it.

Peter Zimmermann · 03-09-2010, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uwanna

California used to be a beautiful and fun place to live, but with the ultra liberal "Big Brother" government, insane taxes, horrible business climate, and fires/mudslides, it's a no wonder many folks are giving up and leaving! Lived there for a while in the '60s, and loved it, but now I am in Georgia and happy as a clam! Hope I didn't insult all you Cali Pelicans, but I don't understand how you endure.

Grant

It really does suck here, but with the housing market in the crapper we couldn't leave if we had the right job op. One thing that's going on is ramped up freeway enforcement. We have a beautiful freeway that crosses the mountains between Central, CA and the L.A. area that's called the Grapevine. The speed limit is 65, but it's actually hard to regulate your speed at anything under 80. We have noticed during our last few trips (family and Disneyland are south of us) that the CHP has been making many more stops; they're writing, not warning, and those tickets are expensive. Not enough to get CA out of the toilet, but somebody issued the order to write more tickets.

joe payne · joe payne's Garage

Does Pelican have a Lotus Elise Forum?

stlrj · 08:11 PM

And to add to that, Califonia has the audacity to call driving a privilege and not a right which allows them to screw us anyway they chose.

stlrj · 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Packy

This is horrible! GOD DAMN IT!!!

I hope you saved your air pump.

joe payne · joe payne's Garage

just kidding about the Elise. I may one day add the Elise, but I love my car!
I have so many bad things to say about the smog issue, but you already know them.
I remember when California was "the capitol" of states when it came Hot Rods!
Now we're coming up with desperate ways to make money.

jjrowe · 03-09-2010, 04:07 PM

Quote:

I just got back from having my Grand Caravan smogged and thought I'd pass along what my "test only" smog guy was saying about what's new for 2011.

Starting then, any owner having tampered with their smog equipment will be fined $5,000 along with a $5,000 fine for the smog guy who didn't catch it or happened look the other way. This is the first time the state is finally going after the owners too and not just the smog shops.

This doesn't make sense, I would like to see the actual writing behind this. They are going to find a smog tech $5k for not knowing what a thermal reactor looks like on a 35 year old car? I doubt it. Maybe if they can prove an intent to defraud but it sounds like blowing smoke to me.

On a similar note, I just got a letter from the state that my business has been put on a list to fill three years worth of use tax, which is basically sales tax on stuff that you bought out of state or online but use in California. I am now supposed to go back three years and see if there is anything I purchased and didn't pay sales tax on.

The state is desperate right now!

jjrowe · 03-09-2010, 04:14 PM

Quote:

We have noticed during our last few trips (family and Disneyland are south of us) that the CHP has been making many more stops; they're writing, not warning, and those tickets are expensive.

No kidding. I got one for going 65 with a trailer and the limit is 55 if you are towing. The ticket was almost $500!

carrera turbo · 03-09-2010, 04:21 PM

wow guys

that really sucks! sensors at the over passes! i wonder if there will be a vehicle or piece of equipment you can recognize to avoid the sensors or install a kill switch so you can coast by the sensor and avoid the fine

.

On another note

THERMO REACTORS AND SMOG PUMPS FOR SALE

get them cheap while they last .

cheers ed

mrbeverlyhills · 03-09-2010, 04:22 PM

1. There are no on ramp sniffers, urban legend.

2. ALL branches of Law Enforcement are writing as many tickets as they can to save their jobs. States are obligated by law to balance their budgets (unlike The Feds) and the only way to balance today is to cut. Tickets are an easy source of revenue, almost as good as red light cameras.

3. All those folks we have to "keep in their homes" who are not paying a mortgage and have not for 10, 14, 18 sometimes 24 months are also not paying their property taxes right when we need it the most.

4. Business use tax; as in Feudal times, if you cannot collect from those that have nothing you need to collect more from those that do. Sux, I got one too.

On a lighter note, I was stopped by an Assistant Chief of Police who was also out writing tickets. He graduated HS 1973 same year as my 911 (luckily I was in it at the time) and got off with a warning.

Crude Rudy · Crude Rudy's Garage

I don't know about the highway on ramps but I have seen the smog Nazi's setup on Hawthorn Blvd going up the hill into Palos Verdes at least 3 times over the past 4 years. I've never been flagged over to be tested but when I drive past but I do worry about it