Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2010 21:52:08 -0800
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Was Failed emissions testing, now is testing a good thing
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="UTF-8"; reply-type=original
well,
I moved from a place where here are smog checks every two years, and the
common driving is at 70 + mph on freeways with lots of cars around.
Since the cars had to see a smog station at least every couple of years...
those shops naturally advised the people to maintain things ...brakes,
shocks, etc.
And with emissions testing the engine has to be running right and well
cared for .....so the engine got good maintenance often.
Then I moved to a place where there was NO emission testing or safety
inspections EVER ...
and the common drive there was about 3 miles across town. The nearest
freeway was like an hour away.
The older cars there were Scary bad !
I've seen steering slop like you wouldn't believe ...half a turn of play
on the steering wheel...and the people didn't even notice !
I've seen pick up trucks with fuel dribbling right off the carb , shocks
just rusted away to nothing ...
it was so bad there that people though I might be trying to rip them off
when I told them the things that were seriously wrong with their car.
Emissions testing can be a pain for sure ...
and safety inspections .......heck, someone has to make sure the brakes are
mostly ok and the lights work ..the car owners often won't
that's why they have Tire Pressure Monitoring on new cars how ...car
owner/operators are too dumb/lazy to check their tire pressures. I used to
tell my customers 'somebody' has to check the tire pressures between service
visits. If not the owner , then who ? You can go to the full service gas
pump and ask them to do it in a lot of places...
but the bottom line is ...many people will not be responsible unless forced
to.
And it's not only the driver of a car with crappy brakes or shot shocks
that's endangered...
it's the other people on the road ! Though I suspect that might not occur to
many people.
'some' testing and inspecting is reasonable.
here's a funny thing ....where smog is not a problem ...there often are no
smog checks...
heck, who cares if it's on the coast and all the car's emissions there blow
inland ...
no need to check the emissions where the coastal cars are since there's no
smog, since it all blows inland from there. ....pretty dumb.
bottom line ...
it results in a lot more poorly maintained cars on the road, when there's no
testing or inspection of any kind.
A properly working and safely maintained car or vanagon is a very nice thing
to drive !
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Hargrave" <thargrav@HIWAAY.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, December 30, 2010 9:20 PM
Subject: Was Failed emissions testing, now is testing a good thing
At one time I would have agreed that emissions testing was a good thing, but
that was back in the carburetor days when mechanics, both shade tree and
"professionals" (I use that term loosely) could easily fiddle with the
mixture and cause your car to spew out lots of harmful stuff. But since the
mid-80's, fuel injection has been computer controlled and you really can't
fiddle much. I guess you could argue "what about old cars" or "what about
cars with problems". I'd argue that these are few and far between and those
that do have issues aren't driven much and it's the average emissions that
count.
And safety inspections? That was a joke way back when I lived in Western NY
State. Most of my High School friends cars passed the local safety
inspections even though you could see the pavement passing under your feet
as you were driving down the road! And those that were too far gone were
taken care of with a quick application of Bondo, maybe some plywood and
spray paint. And I know from experience that a stop sign is a perfect drop
in for the front section of a VW floor pan! So, just how safe is a unibody
car that has half the steel rotted away????? But, hey, at least the brake
pads had more than 25% left in them!
These days emissions testing and safety inspections are more about revenue
than safety or emissions.
Tom
www.towercooler.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Harry Hoffman [mailto:hhoffman@ip-solutions.net]
Sent: Thursday, December 30, 2010 10:54 PM
To: Tom Hargrave
Cc: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Failed emissions testing
Not for nothing but how can no emissions testing or a annual safety
inspection be a good thing?
On Thu, 2010-12-30 at 22:26 -0600, Tom Hargrave wrote:
> I sure am glad that Alabama has NO EMISSIONS TESTING OR ANNUAL SAFETY
> INSPECTION!
>
