Many car owners aren't pursuing repair incentives in program to reduce smog
A voluntary cash incentive created last April to get the owners of the highest-polluting Southern California cars to repair or scrap their vehicles has yet to catch on with the public.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District, which uses vans equipped with smog-sensing gear to randomly detect tailpipe emissions, has collected data on 1 million cars, pickups and SUVs in San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles and Orange counties.
It has mailed letters to the owners of the 7,000 worst polluters in that group -- vehicles that spew as much as 500 times the emissions of an average vehicle -- offering $500 to help pay for repairs. If a vehicle cannot be fixed, the smog district offers $1,000 to scrap the vehicle, or as much as $2,000 for low-income residents.
The district has collected emissions data on 1 million vehicles in San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles and Orange counties. Owners of the worst polluters have been sent letters offering money to help pay for repairs or, in some cases, scrap their cars
Given that the average owner pays about $350 on repairs when a car fails a smog test, district spokesman Sam Atwood said, district officials thought the High Emitter Repair Or Scrap program was a good deal.
So far, only 100 to 200 vehicle owners have taken the deal.
At Mt. San Jacinto College, the only authorized repair station in Riverside County under the program, just two takers have brought in their cars, college spokeswoman Karin Marriott said by phone. Officials there hope to get more as the emissions-testing vans return to the county in the coming months.
"So far we have had a modest number of takers," Atwood said. "That's what we are looking at right now. How do we improve the program to make it more attractive to people?"
Considering Reasons
The $4 million pilot program, launched with a grant from the California Air Resources Board, will be evaluated when data is compiled at the end of next summer. The air quality district's 13-member governing board then will decide whether to renew and possibly modify the program.
"We have ransacked every kind of option and alternative we can identify" to combat air pollution, said Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge, who serves on the board. "I guess this is another one where we're trying to encourage the owners of older vehicles to get them fixed up if they can."
He said the district may have to follow up with those who received the letters to find out why they didn't accept the offer.
"Maybe it's the letter, maybe what is being offered is too low, maybe people don't open it up, maybe they feel intimidated," he said by phone.
Regardless, he said, the district will have to weigh the volume of reduced emissions achieved by the program against its cost.
"What we're finding is that the smog check referees are not looking at what is the quick fix that would be required to simply get the vehicle to pass the smog check," he said. "They are looking at the root cause of the vehicle problems."
While some gross-polluting vehicles can be repaired for much less than $500, "there could be problems that take a whole engine or exhaust system and catalytic converter," says Steve Maser, manager of the Automobile Club's Automotive Research Center in Diamond Bar. "Those things can cost thousands of dollars."
'A Lot of Trepidation'
To get their $500 credit, motorists must take their vehicles to referees at inspection stations operated by the Foundation for Community Colleges, Atwood said. There are only two stations in the Inland area: at the college in San Jacinto and at Valley College in San Bernardino.
He said vehicle owners may be unwilling to drive some distance and then wait one or two hours for testing and diagnosis of repairs.
Atwood emphasized that the program is voluntary and insists that the district has no intention of sharing its smog readings with the Department of Motor Vehicles.
But Maser said those assurances may not be enough for car owners.
"I'm not sure how many people even trust that this is honest," he said. "I am not sure if people who have now tampered with their old cars want the government to see that. Or that they have cheated on their last smog check so they could pass. Now these remote sensors have caught them and they figure there's some trick to get them to bring their car in and they can charge them with cheating on that smog check."
"There is a lot of trepidation out there," Maser said.
