Featured California APPROVES Aftermarket Catalytic Converters!

It just makes in infinitely more difficult to near impossible for non electrical engineers to finger out the schematics posted in forums or such, when the manufacturer proprietorially closes off all public access to specs for the model, ie: honda - as one example. Well maybe not infinitely impossible, but damned near close to it for anyone without prior knowledge and or enough experience to decode what the schematics are showing as well as the experience to comprehend the ramifications of the implementations of individual who figured out the original fix - descriptions and examples. Just a couple of variables to sus out individually.
On something as easy as body codes, most anyone can sus the important parts fairly easily - relatively speaking.

I'm by no stretch of imagination implying the automatic extended door handles was easy to sus out or for others to follow. What I am trying to say is that the stuff gets mighty complex for generalizations about what the status quo is on any one project for any one manufacturer is just fodder for argument at best.

 

I just ran into this post and dont know how it evolved from CA approving some cats to Teslas lol. I for one knew someone who had a similar experience with a prius that had an aftermarket Walker cat that the prev owner purchased in a different state than CA for $800 and when they smogged it here, it passed with no issues and all he had to show was the proof of purchase. I guess it may have had the exempt number stamped.

 

Walker is one of two aftermarket companies that produce CARB compliant CATs, the last time I've checked.
It's up to the smog shop to determine if it's CARB compliant. Most shops are too lazy to crawl underneath to do a visual check. If there's no current or pending CAT codes - it'll usually get a pass; minus $50 bucks out of your pocket for the inspection.

 

Just got a NC inspection done for $13.50. 5 minutes. No smog. Just safety.

 

I am probably the only member here with the Magnaflow California cat.

Been using it ever since I got it and have had zero problems.

Yes its expensive and that is the only con the rest is all pros.

I have a thread here, take a look if you want.

 

The serious issue here in CA is very simple. They only wanted cats from Toyota or Magnaflow to be allowed by the CARB for purely money and power grab reasons and ZERO due to save the environment. CA has been trying to phase out older cars to make way for all electric ones which IMO will never happen. Now, back to the reasoning to my theory… The aftermarket cats do not have the same amount of “precious metals” as the OEM for thieves to steal your cat BUT your car will drive and function as an OEM even passing emissions (minus the visual) and you can also have the peace of mind that your cat will NEVER get stolen BUT, CA does not want this to happen. They simply invented CARB Mafia for control.

Plain and simple, you have a Federal cat…your prius will pass emissions in CA (as long as no CEL is on) and its not causing any more harm than the OEM would and the whole prius/stolen cat fiasco ends. However, CA will never bow down to the consumer hence why people tend to cheat the system instead thus creating a vicious cycle of draconian vehicle compliance laws.

 

The factory cat in the Prius is the same regardless of market. Toyota just certifies to a dirtier standard for costs and warranty reasons in federal states. A federal replacement will meet that federal standard, but may not be clean enough for the CARB standard.

The precious metal content of the cat has been going done over the Prius generations as the tech was refined. The ultra low sulfur gas will allow it to drop further.