CA can crush cars now if found modded while driving in public street

[look 171]

I was out changing my plugs in my lil' S2000 this afternoon as Mr Rickman, son of Eric Rickman walks out of his house with his little dog, some how, its always car talk. The subject turned to smog. He tells me that if caught in the rolling smog check point, and the car doesn't pass and its modded, they will impound it right there and have the right to crush it due to tempering with smog equip. Its a federal offense, according to him. If my 930's crush I would be pissed as there are only 800 or so imported into the US. Anyone care to tell me more? His late model Jeep was funneled into one of these rolling smog trap on the side of the road about 6 months ago down the hill not too far away from home. They pluged into his OBD2 and it told the overall health of the car.

[slodave]

No news online about that. but...

California bill would let classic car owners out of smog check for $200

If a bill currently in the California State Assembly becomes law, the Golden State could become a little more friendly to classic car owners. AB 550 would allow drivers of vehicles that are at least 30 model-years old to pay a $200-fee to waive the state's smog check.

[dos531]

Originally Posted by look 171

I was out changing my plugs in my lil' S2000 this afternoon as Mr Rickman, son of Eric Rickman walks out of his house with his little dog, some how, its always car talk. The subject turned to smog. He tells me that if caught in the rolling smog check point, and the car doesn't pass and its modded, they will impound it right there and have the right to crush it due to tempering with smog equip. Its a federal offense, according to him. If my 930's crush I would be pissed as there are only 800 or so imported into the US. Anyone care to tell me more? His late model Jeep was funneled into one of these rolling smog trap on the side of the road about 6 months ago down the hill not too far away from home. They pluged into his OBD2 and it told the overall health of the car.

Nonsense. Also, those rolling smog checks are voluntary, you can just refuse.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

And if you do what stops them from "finding" some cause to pull you over and harass the hell out of you? Let's face it - if Johnny Law wants to bust your hump, he's going to find a way. And if a cop has it out for you I wouldn't count on it going well for you.

On the upside I suspect most cops are far more annoyed by young sideways-hat, baggy pants wearing douchebags in riced-out Hondas than older white guys with jobs and older Porsches, but you never know. There are plenty of a-hole cops out there so you take your chances...

One more reason I don't miss CA at all. It was a nice place once but it's been ruined by too many people, too many laws and too much BS.

Take your car to Arizona and actually enjoy driving it. That's my advice!

[Rick V]

If that is true then is a complete violation of the 4th amendment.
Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Can they take the tags, yes,
Can they take the car and destroy it, no
Lets say you have a cracked hose and it simply becomes disconnected that by definition is tampered with, and by what you are saying gives Ca. the right to take possession of your vehicle and crush it.
Complete violation of the law.
How does this crap become law out there?

[jyl]

This Rickman fellow doesn't sound like a reliable information source.

[legion]

Tell them that you are an undocumented immigrant. They don't care what you drive then.

[BeyGon]

True, they won't even take your car if you are drunk. after all, you maybe illegal but you need it to get to your job.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by slodave

No news online about that. but...

California bill would let classic car owners out of smog check for $200

Interesting. So it's not just pay $200 for your 30 year-old car and be forever free from smogging. But you have to FAIL two smog tests in a row. Fail once, get repairs, then fail a second time. THEN you can pay $200 to get out of having to smog the car ever again. So the way the law is written, you WANT your car to fail smog to avoid the hassle of having to do it again in the future.

Originally Posted by legion

Tell them that you are an undocumented immigrant. They don't care what you drive then.

LOL. Why does it seem like life is easier to lead if you don't follow the rules?

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by jyl

This Rickman fellow doesn't sound like a reliable information source.

Bit he's the son of Eric Rickman - that's some bona fides right there!

[ossiblue]

Originally Posted by Noah930

Interesting. So it's not just pay $200 for your 30 year-old car and be forever free from smogging. But you have to FAIL two smog tests in a row. Fail once, get repairs, then fail a second time. THEN you can pay $200 to get out of having to smog the car ever again. So the way the law is written, you WANT your car to fail smog to avoid the hassle of having to do it again in the future.

Well, it depends on what you mean by "free from smogging." You still have to have an emissions test every two years and go through the process again, including paying $200 each time, after making "repairs." The bill does not specifically say this, but the way it is written, it does not specifically exempt waived cars from the biannual inspections either. So yes, you will not have to bring your car up to specs and pass smog again, but you will have to get tested. Otherwise, you'd be put in the same category as pre-76 model year cars which require no testing whatsoever, and that was not the intention of the law. They want classic car owners to be able to operate their vehicles but more important, they want a revenue stream from the waiver fees for that privilege.

[RedBaron]

How do these "rolling smog checkpoints" work?? Is it a sniff test, or do they pull you over and plug into your OBDII port? In CT, when I had they had to do a sniff test on my S2, it was a huge PITA. I can't imagine they would pull you over and make you go through one. I think they would much rather pull over a slammed chitbox audi that has a "dope" decal to check for a decat by plugging into the obdii port.

[John Rogers]

I would two things when told about this, first check with the California CARB website which is a real maze of rules, references and more rules and second, check with a trusted Porsche repair shop that handles getting Turbos smog checked to find out their information on this. When we had our 1987 930 that was modified somewhat, every two years we took it to Black Forest in San Diego for a tune up, put the cat back on, etc, etc and they would get it smog checked. Then afterward it would be reverted back to it's modified form. They used a smog shop that was familiar with 930's since the rolling test specified the RPM range and speed but an early 930 with a 4 speed transmission could not do that so we always got a waiver and it passed.

There is a small bit of info on the CARB site that mentions the highway tests and road side tests are mandatory, no choice in the matter it appears?

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by ossiblue

Well, it depends on what you mean by "free from smogging." You still have to have an emissions test every two years and go through the process again, including paying $200 each time, after making "repairs." The bill does not specifically say this, but the way it is written, it does not specifically exempt waived cars from the biannual inspections either. So yes, you will not have to bring your car up to specs and pass smog again, but you will have to get tested. Otherwise, you'd be put in the same category as pre-76 model year cars which require no testing whatsoever, and that was not the intention of the law. They want classic car owners to be able to operate their vehicles but more important, they want a revenue stream from the waiver fees for that privilege.

You're right. Even with that $200 fee, there's nothing in the bill that says you wouldn't have to do the same song and dance 2 years later.

[ossiblue]

Originally Posted by john rogers

I would two things when told about this, first check with the California CARB website which is a real maze of rules, references and more rules and second, check with a trusted Porsche repair shop that handles getting Turbos smog checked to find out their information on this. When we had our 1987 930 that was modified somewhat, every two years we took it to Black Forest in San Diego for a tune up, put the cat back on, etc, etc and they would get it smog checked. Then afterward it would be reverted back to it's modified form. They used a smog shop that was familiar with 930's since the rolling test specified the RPM range and speed but an early 930 with a 4 speed transmission could not do that so we always got a waiver and it passed.

There is a small bit of info on the CARB site that mentions the highway tests and road side tests are mandatory, no choice in the matter it appears?

Nope, they are not mandatory. What is mandatory is that the CARB is to perform the road side checks to collect data.

Verbatim from the website: "Participation in the survey is voluntary. There are no consequences to consumers, regardless of their vehicle's emission control equipment or its emission levels. At the conclusion of the inspection, the participants receive a Vehicle Inspection Report (VIR) detailing the results of the test."
https://www.bar.ca.gov/Consumer/Roadside_Inspection_Program.html

[ossiblue]

Originally Posted by RedBaron

How do these "rolling smog checkpoints" work?? Is it a sniff test, or do they pull you over and plug into your OBDII port? In CT, when I had they had to do a sniff test on my S2, it was a huge PITA. I can't imagine they would pull you over and make you go through one. I think they would much rather pull over a slammed chitbox audi that has a "dope" decal to check for a decat by plugging into the obdii port.

The purpose of the checks is to collect data on cars in operation, more specifically, cars that have recently passed a smog check and are now on the road. It is not designed to get clunkers off the road rather, it is designed to see if there is a large discrepancy between the percentage of cars that pass the biannual test and, later, fail emissions tests while in operation.

It's a 10 minute check and can be a PITA if you don't want to spend the time, so it is not mandatory to participate. However, the CHP are the ones that pull you out of the traffic lanes because of legal reasons so your first encounter is with a LEO. They, no doubt, do not go out of their way to tell you it is a voluntary test-- that comes from the BAR officials that conduct the test. It wouldn't surprise me if they take a "don't ask, don't tell" stance on informing the drivers that the test is voluntary.

[widebody911]

After some googling, I was unable to find anything to back up OP's (or the Rickan family's) original assertion. From what I've learned on other sites, this implies that OP is a bundle of sticks.

[pitargue]

I live in San Jose, CA. Recently had a 2005 model year car smogged. All they did was hook up a code reader and looked for error codes. No error codes, and it's a pass. No more sniff test. Tags received so I guess it's legit...

[crb07]

Originally Posted by legion

Tell them that you are an undocumented immigrant. They don't care what you drive then.

Keep a sombrero in your car in case you are stopped, answer every question "sorry, no inglay". You will be fine.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by pitargue

I live in San Jose, CA. Recently had a 2005 model year car smogged. All they did was hook up a code reader and looked for error codes. No error codes, and it's a pass. No more sniff test. Tags received so I guess it's legit...

You were selected for the new STAR program (STAR Consumers). You can only take your car to a STAR-certified shop. The shop has to jump through some set of hoops to become STAR-certified, and from what I've seen the charge $20-$40 more than normal shops. My wife's 2005 Saabaru and my 2004 M3 come up for smog at the exact same time; I got picked for STAR, she didn't. Her smog check was $35; mine was $65. I could have shopped around and got a cheaper deal, but I had waited until the last minute and needed to get it done.