Smog Checks: Rave Reviews but Do They Deserve Them?

Tuesday marks the first anniversary of California’s Smog Check program, and statistics heralding its success are pouring out of Sacramento.

Four million vehicles have been inspected during the last year under the mandatory biennial inspection law, Smog Check officials say. Seventy percent of all vehicles passed the test without need of repairs.

And, officials said, emissions of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide have been cut by an average of 17% from cars that were repaired after failing the test. The long lines of motorists waiting for inspections that typified the program’s beginning in the South Coast Air Basin have all but disappeared with the licensing of 3,546 official Smog Check stations in the basin, and 7,039 throughout the state.

With all the statistics, however, there is still no clear evidence that the mandatory inspection and maintenance program is achieving its underlying purpose: cleaning up the air Californians breathe.

“The ambient air is better in the Los Angeles Basin, but I don’t think we can attribute it to Smog Check yet,” said John Grow, chief of the state Bureau of Automotive Repairs, which administers the program. “Atmospheric conditions could be credited for part of this,” he said.

Diesels Still Exempted

Diesel cars, trucks and buses--long popularly viewed as the most objectionable polluters on wheels--continue to be exempt from the program, and there is little likelihood that even passenger diesels will be included in the program before 1987.

And, while Grow said emissions from inspected vehicles have been reduced an average of 17%, based on testing before and immediately after tuneups and repairs, there is no way of knowing how long the low emissions are lasting.

“One of the concerns is that the tuneup does not hold up as long as anticipated. Two, three or four months down the line, the car might be doing what it was doing before,” said Jim Birakos, deputy executive officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. But, the Smog Check program mandates inspections only once every two years.

“The Smog Check program has probably exceeded my expectations,” Grow said. After a somewhat shaky start, the program has won widespread public acceptance, Grow said in Sacramento during a telephone interview.

He said the cost of a Smog Check inspection has dropped an average of 8% statewide as competition has increased. Since last May, the average price of an inspection in the South Coast Air Basin has dropped to $21.54 from $23.41, and the average cost of repairs is $22.

In addition, Grow said he is considering cutting the $6 fee for issuing the Smog Check certificate to $4 or $4.50 next January because of a growing program surplus.

Last week, the state Air Resources Board began a four-month study to assess the durability of anti-smog systems and the maintenance habits of California motorists. About 2,000 cars will be pulled over at roadside checkpoints and subjected to a field Smog Check, using portable smog test computer analyzers.

The roadside checks in Los Angeles, Ventura, San Diego, Sacramento, San Francisco and Fresno counties are for study purposes only and no citations or Smog Check certificates will be issued.

“These roadside tests may tell us whether cars that have already gone through the Smog Check comply with the state’s anti-smog laws better than cars that will be tested in the next year,” said Gordon Duffy, chairman of the state Air Resources Board.

Under the law, 12 million gasoline-powered vehicles built in the last 20 years and registered in the state’s smoggiest urban areas are covered. Each year, half of them must undergo a smog test before the state Department of Motor Vehicles will renew the vehicle registration.

Fewer Failing Than Expected

Vehicles with identification numbers (as opposed to license numbers) ending in an odd number must be inspected in odd-numbered years, and those with even numbers in even-numbered years. In addition, cars throughout the state must continue to have anti-smog equipment checked when they change ownership or are registered in California for the first time.

Only a third of the cars have failed the test on the first try, officials say, indicating that motorists in greater numbers are having their cars tuned before the inspection. Before the program began, the state expected between 40% and 45% of the cars to fail.

Wrecking yards and auto parts stores, Grow said, are doing a booming business in catalytic converters and other components of emission-control systems.

“By now the average Californian knows how this thing works. He’s talked to his friends and neighbors and he’s not going to allow his vehicle to deliberately fail,” Grow said.

Others, however, said that the low failure rate also is an indication of lenient emission standards. Tony Marquez, a state Air Resources Board field representative, observed: “They don’t want everybody failing. That is the reason they don’t want to (tighten) the standards.”

Marquez, one of several Air Resource Board employees who made random roadside inspections of cars last week in El Monte, said he believes that the allowable emission levels could be cut in half. “Most good running cars can pass a lower emission standard,” he said.

Indeed, an advisory panel to the Bureau of Automotive Repairs considered tightening standards for older cars but dropped the idea because, Grow said, “they felt so comfortable with the progress.”

Tampering with emission-control systems accounted for 5% of the failures statewide, and 7% of the failures in the Los Angeles area. The state had anticipated that 15% of the failures would be due to tampering.

Reluctance to Prosecute

One problem with the Smog Check program, according to Grow and Birakos, is that some county district attorneys have reportedly been reluctant to prosecute violations.

“They see prosecution as a minor thing, almost a nuisance. Out of 50 cases a month, eight appear to be solid for prosecution, but nobody will touch them because they are time consuming and minor compared to other activities,” Birakos said.

With that in mind, Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside)--author of the original Smog Check law--is carrying another bill this year that would give the Bureau of Automotive Repairs the authority it seeks to issue citations and assess civil penalties against cheating mechanics and others who break the Smog Check law.

“I think it’s obvious if you can handle it through a citation process that you’re going to take a load off the local D.A. and the local criminal justice system,” said Carla Anderson, a Presley aide.

In the meantime, Grow said, the bureau’s investigators are being trained by the attorney general’s office in documenting alleged offenses in reports that will stand up in court and minimize the research that must be done by local district attorneys offices. By year’s end, Grow said, the Bureau of Automotive Repairs will have conducted more than 2,000 undercover runs through Smog Check stations.

As imperfect as it may be, however, Grow said the Smog Check program is working. “I don’t think there’s any question that we’re gaining on (pollution). . . . Industry has cut back as much as they are going to be able to and still be in business. It’s up to the auto now.

Eventually, Grow ventured, the Smog Check program might be abolished as older and dirtier cars are replaced by new “clean” high-tech models. “I think each new auto coming into California is a triumph because they’re so clean,” Grow said.