Good link! FIrst I've heard of this problem, but I'm sure it's been a massive headache for a lot of people. This line is really interesting: ""And the type of test that we're administering is the type that's mandated by the federal government."
Connecticut has had emissions testing since 1983, and the test was supposedly required by the federal government... we had a private company run it, and they built 20 emissions test centers around the state, millions of dollars, and collected ONLY CASH for the test fees. Then last year the whole test system collapsed under its own corruption and bureacracy. After having simply HC and CO tests for 15 years, they added NOx tests and chassis dynos to do a 25mph rolling emissions test. Then they shut the whole mess down and are turning it over to independent garages and dealers who wish to be part of the system. I think it will be more of a hassle than before. A shop has to get online with the state, and have their equipment certified, and dedicate a bay to this. I guess there won't be a chassis dyno anymore (imagine the fun when they tried testing full-time AWD cars, oh yeah that was interesting). At the moment our system is in limbo. They were supposed to begin testing again in MArch... now they're saying August. We used to have vehicle safety inspections too, performed at DMV offices. Then they gave that duty to the contract company as well... now they've done away with that entirely and we're back to having DMV inspectors, but now they only verify the VIN#... and as for emissions certification, all they do is tell you that "you'll get a test date". Uh, ok. No one knows when all this is going to happen. New cars are now gettign a 4-yr exemption from testing (used to be one year). I think that's just a hedge to get DMV over this hump. Putting off the testing of thousands of cars until later just to lighten the load. I'm sure once it starts back up it will be a shambles. THey couldn't calibrate 20 sets of equipment right... now they're going to have 700 garages to monitor. Yeah, ok. So evidently it IS a federal requirement for some states to do something, but it is also OK to suspend the program for 2 years. It's a crazy business.
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: "Roterande Fläkt Och Drivremmar!"