[quote=FlyerInHi]It’s not a scam. Some countries like Germany don’t allow old cars at all.
We should develop sensible public transit. You don’t want old cars belching out pollutants in dense populated area. Move out in boonies if you don’t want to smog your car.[/quote]actually it is a scam.. and Germany does allow old cars as well as Japan.
It is a scam because the test is a two pronged goofball test that does not test what really matters;
1) For pre OBD-II, the test is more realistic, BUT a person who knows how to build injection systems is not allowed to, and not allowed to build a system that is more efficient. It must be as Factory delivered it (If you think that is good, say “Volkswagen did not intent to deceive” 1000 times followed by “The US Manufacturers know best” another 1000 times). The oxygen sensor feedback system was invented by Volvo in 1970s (Lambda Sonde)along with 3-way sensor. Think back to what the US manufacturers were using .. carburetors without feedback control. Original sensor research was around 1960s.
2) For OBD-IIs, many just to the check on the engine diags – looking for error codes and a brief under-hood and tailpipe and that is it. If you believe that this is best .. repeat what I recommend you say in #1 1000 more times.
Though it should have been, it was never really about smog. If it was, it would ONLY be the dyno test. Pre dyno, the inspection and matching factory config made sense. Post dyno, it really doesn’t. There are a lot of skilled people out there who can build an emissions compliant full feedback system, just the type of people that may get employed by a manufacturer.
The average age of cars in Germany is now 8.8 years. 451,000 cars are older than 30 years – of these 314,000 use historical number plates, which give amongst others tax and insurance benefits to older cars in original condition. (Mercedes leads the way in the old-timer rankings.)
