Good Smog Checks Are Crucial

Smog Check II, the state program to cut smog in Los Angeles and other cities that have severe pollution problems, has presented policymakers with plenty of tough choices. For example, how much should motorists have to pay to repair cars that fail the tougher new emissions test? Should the state reimburse poor people, who typically own older, more heavily polluting cars, in order to get those clunkers off the road? But as intractable as these choices can be, one part of the new program should be straightforward: Californians should get the more sophisticated smog test that they now must pay for. Yet an audit ordered by the state found that many mechanics were charging higher inspection fees but weren’t doing a complete job.

State auditors from the Bureau of Automotive Repair, posing as motorists in need of smog checks, monitored 350 mostly Southern California stations for three months. They found that in half the inspections conducted at test and repair stations, key parts of the smog check were omitted. At test-only stations, incomplete inspections were performed 27% of the time.

Human error, not faulty equipment, is the problem in most cases, officials say. Some inspectors took shortcuts--for instance, skipping a visual examination of the car for missing or broken emission equipment. Mechanics know that the public is impatient with the extra time and expense involved in the new smog check and fear that customers will take their business elsewhere if their cars fail the test.

California has a lot at stake in making Smog Check II work. Motorists are already paying much higher inspection fees, about $50, and the state risks losing federal funding if it fails to meet pollution control goals. Motorists should at least get the test they have to pay for, and the state needs to make sure that happens.