Car Owners Vent Anger at ‘Gross Polluter’ Law

Nabbed by smog-busters and labeled “gross polluters,” many California motorists are rebelling against the expense and inconvenience of the state’s newly revamped Smog Check program.

Kyoko Pleet, for one, feels she’s paid her fair share--in time and money--to help clean Southern California’s dirty air.

After spending $500 to repair her 1987 Nissan Sentra’s faulty carburetor, Pleet repeatedly called the jammed Smog Check phone lines to book an appointment at a newly created referee station. She finally got through, waited on hold for 20 minutes, and then was scheduled for a smog test--five weeks later.

“I don’t mind doing things for the community, for the air, but it doesn’t have to be such a pain in the butt,” said Pleet, of San Pedro, as she waited at a referee station in Torrance on Thursday, an hour late to her job as a doctor’s receptionist.

Besieged with complaints about Smog Check II, state officials have begun to take steps to alleviate the huge backlog of vehicles awaiting special testing.

Every two years, each of California’s 24 million cars must undergo a smog inspection by a certified service station or mechanic. But since June, under a new state law, if the test identifies a car as a “gross polluter,” the owner must repair it, regardless of the cost, and have it retested and certified at one of 48 special test centers run by state contractors.

So far, 105,065 vehicles--less than 5% of cars that have undergone smog checks since April--have been deemed gross polluters. When the full program goes into effect next year, an estimated 15% of car owners in smoggy areas, or 750,000 people, will be affected.

Still, some motorists complain that the “gross polluter” repairs are too expensive--especially for low-income drivers--and that it’s inconvenient and time-consuming to arrange appointments at the new test centers.

“It’s a waste of time and money,” said Joyce Woods of Hawthorne, who purchased her 1986 Hyundai a month ago, then had to pay $285 to fix it. “You have to pay for repairs and then you have to come down here and pay again for another test.”

The program has generated so much hostility, mostly in the Bay Area, that state Sen. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena) and the chief of the Department of Consumer Affairs’ Bureau of Automotive Repair have received death threats. On Aug. 21, urged by San Francisco talk radio hosts, an estimated 2,000 people rallied on the steps of the state Capitol against the law. Many of the protesters had unfounded fears that their cars could be confiscated or destroyed.

Called Smog Check II, the changes in the inspections are designed to detect and fix the state’s worst exhaust-belching cars. The 15% of cars expected to be culled are blamed for more than half of all vehicle exhaust and a quarter of all California smog, according to state air quality officials.

For years, the state’s program of smog inspections had been widely criticized as replete with fraudulent and poorly trained mechanics, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered the state to fix it or face economic sanctions. After a bitter dispute that dragged on for months, the state Legislature, Gov. Pete Wilson and the EPA finally agreed on a bipartisan compromise in 1994.

Originally, the EPA wanted every California car to be sent to state-run centers, but legislators feared motorists would face long lines and that many of the 9,000 privately owned stations could be forced out of business. The EPA gave in, approving the compromise that requires up to 15% of cars to be tested more rigorously.

Nevertheless, some service station owners are campaigning to overturn the new law because it takes away some of their business and raises their costs.

The new program is considered vital to achieving healthful air in the urban areas of California. About 100 tons of smog-forming fumes are expected to be eliminated each day--more than any other new anti-smog regulation planned over the next several years.

But the start-up has been plagued with glitches. In August, a state hotline was swamped with 12,840 inquiries, and of those, 146 filed official complaints about various aspects of the program, said Maria Chacon Kniestedt, a spokeswoman for the Department of Consumer Affairs.

Phone lines for setting up retesting appointments have been continuously busy, and once motorists get through, they often must wait a month for a test. In response, the state agency recently boosted the number of phone lines from 14 to about 100 and doubled the number of technicians at the contractors’ stations by sending in state employees.

Chacon Kniestedt said the car-testing capacity has tripled in the past couple of weeks. The average wait for appointments has dropped from 30 days to 12 days, and a test now takes 15 to 20 minutes instead of 40 minutes, she said.

In Los Angeles County, which has eight of the new stations, some motorists said last week that they already noticed big improvements in booking appointments.

“We are making great progress in terms of decreasing those backlogs. We don’t want any consumer to have to wait an excessively long period and we definitely think 30 days is excessive,” Chacon Kniestedt said.

From a BMW sedan to a Hyundai, the cars that drove up at the Torrance referee station one day last week illustrate the variety of vehicles dubbed the state’s worst polluters. The oldest was a 15-year-old Ford van, the newest a 1994 Chevy Blazer.

The amount of pollution a car must emit to be tagged as a gross polluter depends on its model year. Older cars are allowed to pollute about five times more than newer ones due to tightening of standards and updated technology. For newer models, standards are so stringent that a car can be labeled a gross polluter even when the fumes are invisible to the naked eye.

Car models since 1993 are gross polluters if they emit about 20 times more hydrocarbons or carbon monoxide than the average car that passes the test, while 1966 to 1970 cars are targeted if they emit four times more than the average for those years.

Once a car is targeted, the owner must make sufficient repairs so that it no longer qualifies as a gross polluter. Only then can he or she get a waiver or “economic hardship extension” if the car still does not pass smog test standards.

Until the owner complies, the car cannot be registered and therefore cannot be legally driven.

To address concerns about low-income drivers, legislators are seeking funding so the state can offer to buy and scrap cars that owners cannot afford to repair.

Most of the gross-polluting vehicles are either poorly maintained or have emissions equipment, such as catalytic converters, that were removed or tampered with.

But many motorists, including Pleet and Woods, said they had no idea their cars were malfunctioning. Some, such as attorney Jason Schlossberg of Redondo Beach, said they take their cars in regularly for maintenance, so they are suspicious of the test results and their mechanics.

“Nobody wants to pay $500 when you have a family, but if the test is accurate, it doesn’t bother me to pay it to help with smog,” said Schlossberg, whose 1989 Nissan 240SX needed an array of seals, sensors, valves and plugs costing $420. “I just wonder about the accuracy of the tests.”

Stephanie Deason of Torrance said she was “really surprised” that her 1994 Chevy Blazer wound up a gross polluter. “I thought, ‘My truck’s less than 3 years old, how can it not pass smog?’ ” It turned out that the fuel injector--still under warranty--had broken but the mechanics at her dealer had not noticed it during routine maintenance.

Still, Deason called the tougher program “a great idea. There are too many cars out there that shouldn’t be there.”

Many of the car owners said they welcome smog standards because they hate breathing other people’s noxious exhaust, but they would like to see the new system be more convenient.

“I don’t have time--I’m working, studying, then [facing] a problem like this,” said Alexander Macalindong, a home health nurse from Pasadena. He had his 12-year-old Honda Accord tested twice, spent $150 repairing a broken oxygen sensor, waited a month for an appointment and then drove an hour to a referee station.

Next spring, more complaints and backlogs could emerge when the state phases in additional requirements in the smoggiest areas, including nearly all of Southern California. More cars will be sent to the referee centers because Smog Check stations must conduct a new test that simulates driving conditions and measures a third pollutant, nitrogen oxides.

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Smog Check II

Highlights of the new vehicle smog check program in California:

* All gasoline-powered vehicles must still be taken to service stations or mechanics for biennial emissions checks.

* If a vehicle emits enough carbon monoxide or hydrocarbons to be dubbed a “gross polluter,” the owner must repair it regardless of the cost. The owner must then go to one of 48 state-contractor referee stations and pay $30 for a retest.

* Cars that aren’t repaired cannot be legally driven, but they won’t be confiscated. Owners can seek waivers or hardship extensions.

* The owner of a gross polluter may have to return the vehicle in a year for another test.

* Beginning next year, all cars in smoggy areas, including nearly all of Southern California, will undergo more stringent testing using dynamometers, which simulate driving conditions and measure a third pollutant, nitrogen oxides. Test prices will probably go up.

* Ten roadside sensors have been set up statewide to detect gross polluters and photograph their license plates. Beginning later this year, notices may be sent to owners requiring that the cars be retested or repaired.

* Smog certificates are registered with the state electronically, eliminating the need to send paperwork to the DMV.

* The state hotline for questions or complaints is (800) 952-5210.