When I lived in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania only the urban/suburban areas required emission tests...rural end less populated areas were exempt. Living in a suburban area, the state adopted real time on line testing for hydro carbon (HC), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) at several operating points...idle, low speed (25 mph). PA also required annual safety inspections (brakes, exhaust systems, lights, body rust) and both inspections could be done by the same service station/dealer/private licensed locations. I used a local private licensed station. This person had a "test mule" whose readings met or exceeded state requirements. The car had 2 converters, fuel was dosed with ethanol, special carb settings, distributor settings. When testing my cars, all pertinent info (make, model, VIN#) was added to the test computer and the test mule's exhaust sampled and centered in the computer. After the info was entered, the computer printed the emission sticker applied to the windshield next to the safety inspection sticker. The test mule's settings could be "adjusted" so results were different for each car it was used for a slight random-ness in reporting. I paid a few $$ extra for this service....did the world come to an end because of "dirty cars"?? No...but the state legislature continued to press for only the urban/suburban areas get vehicles emission tested.....makes ABSOLUTELY no sense.....test every one or no one. Not sure what PA requires now. The state spent several billions of dollars on state emission testing centers (~75+) that issued the emission stickers....they had chassis dyno's to run test vehicle's while collection exhaust samples. After several years of chaos and political in-fighting, this was all abandoned and the facilities sold for 5-7 cents/dollar cost. And all the PA taxpayers ate the losses.....and the air quality remains basically unchanged. I believe residents of California may be required to have a permit to be sble to fart.......some things make no sense.....all because some politician thinks so.......just my opinion of course.
BOB RENTON
