Most of us realize that we need to take responsibility toward keeping our air clean so that our cities don't smother under a constant brown haze of pollution. However, some of our motor vehicle emissions laws seem to make little or no sense at all. In a mass effort designed to combat vehicle smog, states have passed laws that are seemingly based more on making those in charge feel good about fighting pollution than actually designing a system to reduce pollution in the most efficient manner possible.

Take for instance a recent case in which a friend of mine went to have his Jeep emissions tested. Arizona requires most vehicles to pass both a visual equipment inspection and a running engine analysis at a state contracted test station. On his first trip to the test station, my friend's Jeep completely passed the visual inspection, but failed some portions of the tailpipe test. As a result, he replaced a worn carburetor and took another trip back to the station.

This time the inspector said he passed the tailpipe test with ease......but.. ..they were now going to fail him because his air pump check valves were broken and they wanted them replaced. Thus, he was forced to replace the valves and return to the station for a third time (paying the fee again) for some equipment they had approved during his first pass through the station.

As such, it appears that the state SUBJECTIVELY requires you to have all original emissions equipment in place, regardless if it decreases or increases vehicle emissions output. In fact, in this case and in other cases I've seen, there are times when changing equipment (as mandated by the station) has caused an increase in emissions.

Another case of interest involves the last time I took my truck for testing. The first time I had my truck tested, it passed the tailpipe test with ease, but failed the equipment test due to a missing evaporative canister. I swapped a newer, larger engine into my truck about five years ago and, at the time, no canister was required. Recent changes in the rules now require one.

I installed a canister and returned to the station a few days later. This time I was told I passed the equipment test, but marginally failed the tailpipe test. I couldn't understand why until I closely checked my test results. My readings were nearly identical to the previous ones. However, the maximum allowed emission specs had been REDUCED TO ABOUT HALF THE PREVIOUS AMOUNT. When I questioned the station personnel, their comment was simply that they had no control over the specs and that the state changed them from time to time.

Needless to say, I was quite upset! I decided to try something...... The next day I drove to another one of the stations and had my truck tested. Not only did the truck pass without problem, but THIS STATION WAS USING THE SPECS I HAD ORIGINALLY BEEN TESTED TO!

Such lack of consistency is not unusual in the state's test methods. Also, their insistence that all vehicles pass an equipment test, whether such inspection has a bearing on vehicle emissions quantities, seems to imply that they care little about improving efficiency and cost (to drivers and taxpayers) of the test system.

Makes me wonder........