If you diligently put your car through a smog check every couple years as required by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (or if you've managed to ditch car ownership altogether!), you're no doubt curious about the other cars on the road that seem to spew vast quantities of black smoke. How do they get away with it?
Well, if you see an environmental offender on the road, the South Coast Air Quality Management District wants you to "help AQMD protect public health in the South Coast Air Basin." Just call 1-800-CUT SMOG (1-800-288-7664) or e-mail cut_smog@aqmd.gov with the car’s make and license number, along with the date, time and location of the observation, to report the offense. The AQMD’s the agency responsible for controlling air pollution from buildings (refineries, gas stations, etc.) for all of Orange County and the urban portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Once your complaint's received, the AQMD will mail an advisory letter to the owner of the car, recommending repairs and letting them know that excessively smoking vehicles can be fined $100 to $250. After making repairs, owners are asked to complete a Smoking Vehicle Compliance Form and return it to AQMD. According to the AQMD, more than 40% of the vehicle owners who get the letter return completed compliance forms to the AQMD.
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any kind of penalties for the 60% of owners who receive complaints but don't bother to mail in compliance forms. In fact, only the California Highway Patrol can cite and impose fines for vehicles for excessive smoke. Sadly, the CHP site has no info for reporting smoggy vehicles — though they do offer a non-emergency number: 800.TELL.CHP.
Moreover, smog checks aren’t required for cars that are diesel-powered, 1975-year or older models, or really heavy (14,001 lbs+). This means that the car spewing copious amounts of asthma-causing pollutants may not even be disobeying the law.
One thing that might help: The Bureau of Automotive Repair’s (BAR) Consumer Assistance Program pays for up to $500 in smog related repairs or pays $1000 to ditch smoggy cars altogether. If you fail a smog check, check out the program to see if you qualify. If you know a friend skirting the laws, or getting through loopholes in the laws, let them know about this program.
