Q: Many years ago, California began exempting older cars from having to complete a smog check to renew the vehicle registration for the year, Roy Saldin of Moreno Valley said.
“They seemed to be doing it to all cars without a catalytic converter. They got up to 1975, and then stopped,” he said. Most cars after 1975, he said, started using a catalytic converter (an exhaust emission device that converts pollutants in exhaust from the engine into less-toxic pollutants), but his 1977 Porsche still did not; they started using one in 1978. Saldin asked if it was an oversight not to exempt all cars without a catalytic converter and if so, would this policy change in the future.
A: California’s smog check exemption is based on a model year cutoff established in law, not on whether a vehicle has a catalytic converter. Smog checks are required when you register a vehicle for the first time in California, every other year when renewing the registration, or when a vehicle changes ownership, according to the California Department of Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Automotive Repair. There are some exemptions.
Here’s a bit of history about the program.
In 1997, California established a rolling 30-year exemption that removed vehicles from having to meet smog check requirements, said Bureau of Automotive Repair spokesperson Ebenezer Arreola. In 2004, the Legislature repealed that rolling exemption and set a fixed cutoff at the 1975 model year for gas-powered vehicles. In 2010, diesel vehicles came into the program with a fixed cutoff at the 1997 model year. These model year-based exemptions remain in place today, Arreola said.
There have been legislative proposals over the years to change the exemption, including bills that would move to a rolling exemption for older or “collector” vehicles, but none of those proposals have been enacted, Arreola said. Any change to the current exemption would require action by the Legislature.
Help on the road
Remember when using a call box was how you sought help if you became stranded on the freeway? Those days are gone. Transportation agencies statewide phased out the call box system as most people acquired cellphones.
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The study will analyze things like California Highway Patrol incident data, traffic volumes, better cellular connectivity and coverage, mobile-based solutions such as a 511 “call box” app feature and the use of apps like Waze for real-time incident detection. The study will also examine ways to optimize the Freeway Service Patrol and anticipate future needs.
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