Fake Emission Test Results Given in New York

In February 2010, a major mishap was committed on emission tests conducted in some areas of New York as a handful of car repair shops and auto service centers released fake emission test results, violating the goals of the emissions program in compliance with the Federal Clean Air Act. Some officials of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation reported that about 40 of the 3,500 inspection sites across the areas of Long Island, New York City and Westchester County did not adhere to the standards and proper procedures of conducting the state’s annual emission inspection. These violators conducted fraudulent inspections and granted emission inspection certificates for vehicles that did not pass the test and those that did not even undergo the required inspection.

New York State Emissions Inspection
To pass the state emissions inspections and to obtain valid inspection certificates, vehicles in New York have to undergo the NYS Vehicle Inspection Program (NYVIP). It is a program that requires all registered vehicles in New York to undergo an emissions inspection, aside from the mandatory safety inspection, every 12 months. They are conducted by the Department of Motor Vehicles-certified inspectors at privately owned inspection stations like repair shops and auto service stations.

The program conducts inspections and tests of the emissions control systems of vehicles manufactured in 1996 or later. This includes gas cap inspection and ocular inspection of the emission control devices. The program was instituted in 2005.

Cheating the System
In the NYS Vehicle Inspection Program, motor vehicles are inspected in the NYS-licensed inspection stations using new and accurate equipment. The vehicles are connected to this equipment to check the on-board diagnostic system (OBDII), or the computerized emissions control system of the vehicles. The inspection results obtained are then sent to the Department of Motor Vehicles. However, the information that the violators sent came from an electronic device that simulated the test – hence, they were not real.

The Department of Motor Vehicles has already detected nearly 21,000 vehicles that underwent fraudulent inspections since March 2008 in around 27 inspection stations. Violators are fined &15,000-$22,500.

1. Toyota Motor Sales Joins the EPA WasteWise Program
2. Former New York Sen. Al D’Amato urges green practices
3. IEA recommends fifty percent cut in carbon emissions by 2050
4. Ford and Microsoft hope to drive home energy savings with electric car management software
5. H&M New York Vows to Stop Destroying Unsold Merchandise