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new emission test in new york state

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by syncmaster, Jun 11, 2005.

  1. syncmaster

    syncmaster Member

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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    I was concerned about testing the prius for the states emission test. But I just found out that the test has changed in New York state. If you car is 1995 or older it gets the usual way of emission test.... put the car on the dynamo and sample the exaust pipe and measure the pollution.
    For 1996 or newer they just hook up to the OBDII socket and their computer reads the car computer for errors. As long as the car's computer reports that all sensors are working and no "Check engine light"
    the car passes the emission test. They don't sample the tail pipe anymore.
    This should make testing the prius real simple.
    I don't know about other states, but for NY that is the way it will be done.
    They say they will be phasing out the dynamo and emission sample machine over time.


    Have fun
    Don
     
    #1 syncmaster, Jun 11, 2005
  2. KTPhil

    KTPhil Active Member

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    Interesting... a great money saver, and since the car is self-diagnosing, a good idea in theory.

    On the practical side, you can bet the manufactures of dynos, who lobbied in California VERY heavily, won't go for this. They made shops pay $40K for a new tester, then three years later (before many shops had even paid for that equipment) got the legislature to require the dyno testers. Many said "goodbye" to being a test station, and now tests cost twice what they did before.

    I also think this may open things up for gaming... reset the codes a block before driving into the test station, if you have intermittent problems.

    But for 99% of those tested, a great idea.

    One question... do they charge the same as before, which they justified by the need to recoup all that hardware investment? I bet not!
     
    #2 KTPhil, Jun 11, 2005
  3. syncmaster

    syncmaster Member

    Joined:
    May 30, 2005
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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    The charge is the same $35.00 , But reseting the errors a block away if you have the check engine light on won't work. when you wipe out the codes to clear the CEL the cars computer reports to the inspection computer that the sensors are not ready. Because the old readings got wiped out and the car computer did not have enough time to run new tests. The guy running the inspection will say you either have a faulty car computer or you recently had work done on the cars sensors and it fails the emission test. Then he tells you if you recently had work done(or wiped out your error codes) to drive is around a couple of days so the car computer has time to perform the tests and log in the passed/failed info. You have to still pay $35.00 if it fails the test and another $35.00 when you come back for a retest.
     
    #3 syncmaster, Jun 11, 2005
  4. Frank Hudon

    Frank Hudon Senior Member

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    a ripoff either way that won't do much for emission problems. It's possible to have a defective Cat and still pass this test but with a sniff no way. IMO dumb. If your going to test do a real one or forget the whole thing.
     
    #4 Frank Hudon, Jun 11, 2005
  5. KTPhil

    KTPhil Active Member

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    I don't know the current status of thge proposed OBD-III, but if implemented, you'll get tattled on even without an inspection:

    Click for info on OBD-III
     
    #5 KTPhil, Jun 12, 2005
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