Cali people... Random smog inspections=we're screwed...

[chokudoriS13]

Ok, so apparently, CHP and CARB have teamed up together to screw the automotive enthusiast even more than they have been doing. A member on VWVortex was stopped less than 5 miles from my house. Apparently, they (the CHP) flag you down, and make you do an on-site mobile roller/sniffer test, and inspect your parts for CARB numbers. No CARB number on an intake? $300 fine at the very minimum, and you must get it corrected at the state referee station. SR/CA swap? You're done for... Apparently this has been happening for a while, but is now becoming more frequent, which is freakin' me and my SR/CA plans out. Apparently, while they claim that these are random checkpoints, they are targeting cars that fit into their profile, which includes modded cars (as stated by another member, who after seeing the thread inquired about this to his cousin, a CHP officer). Thoughts/Opinions?

I'll go ahead and state mine. I hate the CARB Smog Nazis, and I think through BS (both to lawmakers and the general public) we have given up too many rights for supposedly cleaner air. How can it be legal to profile a specific type of car and then require the owner to open the hood (which is protected by the right to privacy, and is different from when a police officer has probable cause and the right to search a vehicle)? I think the enthusiasts and SEMA should try and do something - anything - about this. Anything is better than nothing.

[Dousan_PG]

wow. that sucks. more reason to keep the sleeper look! haha
my car looks modified but its 100% stock! boo ya!
sucks for the SR stuff though.

[uiuc240]

yet another reason for me to never move back to Cali. :eek:

Eric

[BRB240]

Yet another reason why California sucks! I too am glad I don't live there any more.

There is a way to avoid it, if you don't mind a drive to nevada(once)

First get a P.O. Box in a county that doesn't have smog restrictions. Then go to the DMV for that area and register you car under the P.O. Box address. BOOM! Problem solved. If the smog fools pull you over all you have to do is point to the plates.

I register in Carson County even though I live in Washoe County which as Smog regulations.

If a cop pulls you over and asks about the address on your license being different from your registration you just say,"Its registered." and he can't do crap about it!

Then whenever your registration comes in the mail... have an address forwarding on your PO Box to send mail to your real address in Cal. You will only have to have the forward on the address for about two weeks out of the year.

Just make shure you register in a county that doesn't have smog regulations.

Now this is a bit much for most but if I lived in Cal and had an SR, I would do it!

[240Stilo]

I still haven't heard of anyone that's been stopped. But all in all being a sleeper will help out. They should change the saying to "You snooze you...win.":D

[AKADriver]

That's horrible. What's the purpose of all this? Do they really think that hounding a small segment of the population mercilessly is going to make a noticeable dent in vehicle emissions in general, much less the problem of air pollution as a whole?

[KoukiS14]

Wow glad I don't live there!!

I mean Indiana isn't that great, but I can roll around in a 4000 hp skyline GT-R DIESEL that belches black smoke all I want to, in front of cops, and everything haha. . nobody cares.

[91blk240]

yet another reason for me to never move back to Cali.

i second that

here in MS i don't think anybody even gets their car inspected.

[drift freaq]

Ok guys, I drive all over the LA basin on a constant basis I travel a lot of surface streets and many of the freeways. I have never once seen this. The only place I have heard of this kind of stuff happening is the street racing scenes in San Diego, Sun Valley and Fullerton areas.
I do not think they are doing this all over the place they are targeting areas where this is a lot of street racing going on.
Steer clear of the street racing scenes in these areas and I do not think you will have a problem. i.e. Glen oaks blvd in Sun Valley.


Once again someone posts incidents without facts thereby eliciting hysteria and random stupid comments:rolleyes:

[Jeff240sx]

Originally posted by drift freaq
Once again someone posts incidents without facts thereby eliciting hysteria and random stupid comments:rolleyes:
LOL!
See Also: Orson Wells; War of the Worlds
-Jeff

[kandyflip445]

Originally posted by KoukiS14
Wow glad I don't live there!!

I mean Indiana isn't that great, but I can roll around in a 4000 hp skyline GT-R DIESEL that belches black smoke all I want to, in front of cops, and everything haha. . nobody cares.

Yup...just the same here. Even if it's a damn 89' Honda Accord LX that has a rusted out exhaust(VERY LOUD), bad compression, leaks oil, and is a public eye sore(it's painted quizno's colors....if I had a scanner i would get a pic...or maybe I should just take it with my digicam...:rolleyes: ).


(If anyone wants to see it so they can make fun of it just post and I'll stick it up in a thread...:p )

[HippoSleek]

Whether this is regular or not, there is smog in the air and there are laws in the books.

Believe it or not, regulators don't start programs costing hundreds of thousands of dollars just b/c they don't like kids who wear visors and drive loud cars. The man isn't out to get you. Generally, there are more imporant issues involved like massive resistance to a properly passed statute - which the localities and the state must meet in able to continue funding their highways with federal money.

As for the invasion of privacy issue: they can certainly have the mobile sniffers (smog dogs?) that they put on freeway on-ramps, etc. Those are not intrusive in any way. Once one of those catches an above limit reading, they have probable cause.

[AKADriver]

I don't think there's federal money at stake here... the things CARB does go above and beyond the requirements of the Clean Air Act, don't they? IIRC the Clean Air Act only asks for emissions programs like Maryland's (sniffer test once every couple years, OBD-2 check, gas cap check, NO VISUAL! :D)

I don't agree with this type of enforcement... I do think emissions inspections serve some good, but it still seems like they're just targeting enthusiasts specifically on suspicion of street racing, not out of any concern for air quality.

[KoukiS14]

Originally posted by kandyflip445
Yup...just the same here. Even if it's a damn 89' Honda Accord LX that has a rusted out exhaust(VERY LOUD), bad compression, leaks oil, and is a public eye sore(it's painted quizno's colors....if I had a scanner i would get a pic...or maybe I should just take it with my digicam...:rolleyes: ).


(If anyone wants to see it so they can make fun of it just post and I'll stick it up in a thread...:p )

haha sounds like you just described a real sports car.

[hooter]

Originally posted by drift freaq
Ok guys, I drive all over the LA basin on a constant basis I travel a lot of surface streets and many of the freeways. I have never once seen this. The only place I have heard of this kind of stuff happening is the street racing scenes in San Diego, Sun Valley and Fullerton areas.
I do not think they are doing this all over the place they are targeting areas where this is a lot of street racing going on.
Steer clear of the street racing scenes in these areas and I do not think you will have a problem. i.e. Glen oaks blvd in Sun Valley.


Once again someone posts incidents without facts thereby eliciting hysteria and random stupid comments:rolleyes:

Yep. I live in LA. Drive all over it on a regular basis. In my last 8 years of driving, I have only seen 3 of these things. One in La Canada on Foothill blvd near Ocean View, one in Valley Village that I got caught in and the other near Irvine on El Toro. The one that I actually got caught in, CHP motioned me to get in the line, smog guy went to the back of the car, checked my license plate number and vin number on the dash asked me what the year was on my car and said I could go. I was driving my 94 Civic Si at the time, slammed on a set of CP-F's so it definitely didn't look stock.

-Charlie

[DarkRaptor42]

Heres my view on it. I got my car registered in Valley springs CA. I could have any thing I want in my car and a cop cant do anything because of where its registered. Next up, they dont just pull you over and sniff your car. Ive seen this done and its only done at street races. Its like the noise polution, they dont carry a decible meter around with them all the time. And as far as CARB goes, I have a friend who lives in San Fransico. while there hes fine. But when he comes to the valley, he cant breath. He gets sick from the air here. Also have you ever flown into LA? Can you see the smog Layer? Its like a premenant dark cloud of Yuck. I dont know where hollywood gets there shots of LA but most of the time the smogs so bad you can see dick. I hate the CARB but I know why they exisit. If you dont have a CAT and you can see the back of your car because of smoke coming out, It doesnt need to be driven around. thats race car, not a street car.

[HippoSleek]

AKA - can't find it off hand, but there was a recent article in the Post discussing the need to reduce the DC area's admissions b/c of federal money. The CAA is not the end all be all standard of auto emissions, there are other regional target goals that are enforced by Washington by way of federal $$$. In DC, we are failing to meet these, so proposals from re-routing trucks around the city to higher DC parking fees to higher gas taxes to multi-$M bus initiatives have been proposed (no clear response yet b/c we have, iirc, 4 years to hit the target).

Still, my main point is that "they" aren't out to get "you." If you don't like the laws, work to change them (good luck convincing the majority of Californians there is not smog problem), not to break them. Living in a world of old male power brokers, I'll tell you this: contrary to what most people on car message boards think, they give two sh!ts about kids and their cars and they're certainly not going to spend millions of state dollars just to pi$s you off. A few overzealous cops? -- I'll buy it. The entire CA Air Resources Board... got conspiracy?

Mark - who tends to think that people who get tickets deserve them.

I like Darkraptors point re: it is a street car, not a race car.

[chokudoriS13]

Originally posted by drift freaq
Once again someone posts incidents without facts thereby eliciting hysteria and random stupid comments:rolleyes:

This was a Saturday afternoon, at the intersection of Lassen and Topanga Canyon... hardly a problem area, wouldn't you say?

[chokudoriS13]

That's a very 50's-early 70's view of L.A., with tons of traffic and no smog restrictions. At some point in the late 60's, half the days in a given year were smog alert days. How many did we have in 2002? Something like 15-25 days... out of 365 days in a year.

Originally posted by DarkRaptor42
Heres my view on it. I got my car registered in Valley springs CA. I could have any thing I want in my car and a cop cant do anything because of where its registered. Next up, they dont just pull you over and sniff your car. Ive seen this done and its only done at street races. Its like the noise polution, they dont carry a decible meter around with them all the time. And as far as CARB goes, I have a friend who lives in San Fransico. while there hes fine. But when he comes to the valley, he cant breath. He gets sick from the air here. Also have you ever flown into LA? Can you see the smog Layer? Its like a premenant dark cloud of Yuck. I dont know where hollywood gets there shots of LA but most of the time the smogs so bad you can see dick. I hate the CARB but I know why they exisit. If you dont have a CAT and you can see the back of your car because of smoke coming out, It doesnt need to be driven around. thats race car, not a street car.

[DarkRaptor42]

ever been out side of LA? Did you know the sky is blue not brown? Everytime ive been to LA its been pretty darn bad.

[chokudoriS13]

it's pretty blue outside right now :D. So blue, I don't even want to go to class....

[AKADriver]

Yeah, at the upper level I don't think they have a problem... It does tend to mostly be police departments that go after the "street racers" (or what they perceive to be street racers) using the emissions laws as just another deterrent like they've used lighting, tint, and suspension height laws in the past.

The hard thing isn't convincing people there isn't a smog problem (because there is), it's convincing people that the small but very visual minority of modified street cars isn't the root cause of the problem, and that inspections should exist to root out truly un-roadworthy cars and not the average Joe's street machine. SEMA has done a great job in the past fighting the laws, and anyone that's interested in this should at the least read their web site regularly and keep tabs on the latest legal news. The fact that the old male power brokers don't care is part of the problem for us... so many of the laws make no distinction between a modified car and a broken car.

And yes, I do think that so many things some car guys do are stupid. I've always said that if your car is streetable enough to have a rear seat and a stereo, then it's streetable enough to have functional emissions equipment. But things like SR swaps are one of those major grey areas... It's a factory, clean-burning, emissions-controlled engine, it just doesn't have the right stickers on it...

[DarkRaptor42]

word

[BboyOxygen]

I'm sorry but this is BS. My girlfriend drives an integra and she just got it smogged. I looked at the readings and everything passed so good. I dont understand how they can target people with modded cars, when the deisel trucks and huge suvs are the ones doing most of the polluting! Why does california have to be this damn strict.

[chokudoriS13]

I agree with this, but I think as a group, enthusiasts should do more than just complacently follow new and more restrictive laws. Contacting SEMA (who no doubt are a somewhat large special interest group) in droves about this and other ridiculous laws is a good step. Otherwise, some ridiculous laws come about, like CA's 10% alternative fuel vehicle requirement by 2005... Is 10% of the population actually willing to drive altertnative fuel vehicles without a proven track record? the answer is simply "no", which is why the government (state and local) is the major purchaser of these at ridiculous prices. Btw, with some lobbying, I believe the 2005 date was pushed up to 2008 or so... Stupidity at the highest levels is inexcusable.

Originally posted by AKADriver
Yeah, at the upper level I don't think they have a problem... It does tend to mostly be police departments that go after the "street racers" (or what they perceive to be street racers) using the emissions laws as just another deterrent like they've used lighting, tint, and suspension height laws in the past.

The hard thing isn't convincing people there isn't a smog problem (because there is), it's convincing people that the small but very visual minority of modified street cars isn't the root cause of the problem, and that inspections should exist to root out truly un-roadworthy cars and not the average Joe's street machine. SEMA has done a great job in the past fighting the laws, and anyone that's interested in this should at the least read their web site regularly and keep tabs on the latest legal news. The fact that the old male power brokers don't care is part of the problem for us... so many of the laws make no distinction between a modified car and a broken car.

And yes, I do think that so many things some car guys do are stupid. I've always said that if your car is streetable enough to have a rear seat and a stereo, then it's streetable enough to have functional emissions equipment. But things like SR swaps are one of those major grey areas... It's a factory, clean-burning, emissions-controlled engine, it just doesn't have the right stickers on it...

[chokudoriS13]

You forget that cars up to 5 years old owned by the original purchaser (I think) do not need to be smogged in California. So, if this took place in 1999 or before, they could not legally smog your car.

Originally posted by hooter
The one that I actually got caught in, CHP motioned me to get in the line, smog guy went to the back of the car, checked my license plate number and vin number on the dash asked me what the year was on my car and said I could go. I was driving my 94 Civic Si at the time, slammed on a set of CP-F's so it definitely didn't look stock.

-Charlie

[elevator]

God, I love living in Japan!! None of that gestapo crap here!!

[DarkRaptor42]

Originally posted by BboyOxygen
I'm sorry but this is BS. My girlfriend drives an integra and she just got it smogged. I looked at the readings and everything passed so good. I dont understand how they can target people with modded cars, when the deisel trucks and huge suvs are the ones doing most of the polluting! Why does california have to be this damn strict.

your an idiot. SUVs Yes, Diesel.... god.....

[BboyOxygen]

Dont ****ing call me an idiot you moron. If you are going to explain why I'm wrong then do it, but dont just call me an idiot for no reason.

[chokudoriS13]

hey, let's all relax. Diesel is actually cleaner burning (well, some diesel, anyway) than gasoline is what he means.

[adey]

while I agree that many of these random smog checks are just a manipulation of local regulations to clamp down on street racing, I do also see the benefits of having strict regulations. I'm surprised no one has mentioned the US' greater environmental stance: our non-ratification of the Kyoto protocol and our pathetic role in the more recent environmental summit in Johannesburg...
That is to say, the US is a huge emitter of greenhouse gasses, but refuses to cut down these emissions by any significant amount. We and our SUVs, together, will promote higher rates of ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect.

While I think we as a nation DO need to cut down on our emissions (5% of the world population spewing out 30% of the worlds emissions?... tsk tsk) I don't think that's the point of the CHP/local police depts in """""""randomly""""""" (emphasis on quotation marks) pulling us over for smog checks.
Heck, we give higher tax breaks to 8-cylinder SUV owners (who need the car to commute to/from work) but clamp down on poor college students who happen to be 4-cylinder turbo car enthusiasts? It's ridiculous!

[deltrr]

P.O. Box = winnage.