Spooky55

Just FYI everyone - California smog inspections now search your ECU programming for aftermarket tunes. Here's a thread from another forum:

https://mbworld.org/forums/cls-coupe...-vehicles.html

MattCordell

Cali must be a real pain in the a*s owning a vehicle and government inspections?
Cars sold in Cali must be the worst kind when it comes to power restrictions and emissions compared with cars sold in the other states in USA?

Robjr

Matt.....

Actually, its widely known that all cars manufactured, either domestic/foreign, and imported in to the USA use California's smog standards as the benchmark for emissions testing. Otherwise, there'd be zero cars sold in California and the remaining 49 states would see significant increases in market share since California's gestapo regime restrict all cars performance potential.

Rob

MattCordell

Cars sold for Californian market has less HP from smog restrictions versus same cars sold in NY?
When I was in the market for a 1990 Camaro Z28 I was advised against buying a Camaro from California due being smog restricted.

Only positive thing is that cars sold in California don't rust the same like cars in NY?

Robjr

Matt......

Not sure that's correct. It doesn't make sense that a manufacturer would change hp/performance features for cars sold in 49 states vs California. That would be a marketing nightmare for California. However, anything's possible when it comes to autos. lol

Any auto manufacturer reps want to pitch your 2 cents?

Rob

MattCordell

Well I didn't buy the smoged Camaro, I ended up buying one from out of state.
I test drove a smoged Camaro and then compared it with a non-Cali car from the same dealer.
The smoged Camaro was slow as a tortoise, no fun to drive at all although it was in better shape not having any rust issues!

Robjr

Matt........

My information is based on the following: There is a "50 state automobile emissions" in which those vehicles (49-state) are made with smog equipment that meets federal emission standards, but not California standards. California-certified (50-state) vehicles are made to be sold in California. To find out whether a car, truck, or motorcycle is California certified, a potential buyer can check the emission label under the hood.

The states that have adopted the California standards are: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico (2011 model year and later), New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington (2009 model year and later), as well as the District of Columbia. New vehicles can not be registered in California unless they are 50-State Emissions certified. However, a used vehicle which is equipped with the necessary Federal Emission components is eligible for California registration as long as the vehicle's exhaust emissions fall within California's limits.

Buying a car in any of those states means it will pass the requirements of all 50 states. However, some cars are still made only to be sold in non-CARB states. If you bought a new car in a non-CARB state, you might not be allowed to register it in a CARB state.

States without safety, emissions, or VIN inspections include Alaska, Arkansas, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana and North Dakota. Registering that car would not be able, more than likely, to comply and pass California's safety and emissions standards.

The next question needed to be asked is "What is the difference between California emissions and federal emissions"? Federal emissions stickers will just say, "This vehicle conforms to U.S. EPA regulations". California emissions vehicles will state, "This vehicle conforms to U.S. EPA and State of California regulations".

As for the difference in horsepower of a new car manufactured for sale in California versus the horsepower of an identical car manufactured for sale in any other state. Since I'm not an expert, I don't know if there would be any difference. Obviously, with California's strict auto emission standards, there just might some difference. That's a question for an auto industry expert.

Again, if there are any experts that can answer that specific question, please offer comment.

Rob

MattCordell

@ Robjr

Thanks for the info.

It was more than 28 years ago when I bought the car perhaps regulations changed over time?
I don't remember everything back then.

coolcamden

Hahaha, I don’t remember anything I did 28 DAYS ago. 28 years? Forget-about-it.

Spooky55

I may be wrong here, but it's been my experience that you can register any 49 state car in California as long as it is used (1500 or so miles on the odometer), in an unmodified state with all emissions equipment intact and meets the original 49 state emissions standards for that year. They can't change the standards or add more tests that the car wasn't originally designed to meet. They used to charge a one time $300 tax to register a 49 state vehicle until the courts stopped that back sometime in the 90s.

This just now includes snooping into your ECU programming where previously it was a visual inspection and OBD-II or tailpipe test on a dyno (depending on year and what county you live in).

California emissions used to have MAJOR performance penalties back in the 70s-90s, including prohibitions on certain engines and transmissions. 4 speed manuals were outright banned. This is no longer the case or is rare. I did read an article earlier this year stating that the higher performance Camaros (ZL1, etc). and a few other cars were banned from sale here due not to emissions, but because of their brake pad compounds...