Why Won't Car Pass Inspection?

  RSS

Dear Car Talk

Feb 26, 2015 (Archives)

9 Comments

catalytic converters, scams

Dear Car Talk:

Two years ago, my son bought a 2002 Saturn L100 in California. When he tried to re-register it and get a smog test this year, the emissions were good, but the car did not pass the smog test because the station said it had the wrong catalytic converter installed. He went to a DMV appeals hearing, but had no luck. He's already paid the registration fee, which is nonrefundable, and is stumped about what to do. He's tried contacting the car seller, with no luck. What is the most logical, speediest way for him to handle this? He wants to buy a converter (with the valid ID number) online and have it installed.

-- Nadine

If the converter is the only thing keeping him from passing inspection, I think buying a proper converter is his best bet, Nadine. Someone pulled a fast one on him.

You don't say whether it was an individual seller or a used-car dealer of some kind. But my guess is that a previous owner of this car failed a smog test. And rather spend the $500 for a new converter, he or she dumped the car. Cheap.

Whoever bought it turned around and "patched in" an incorrect, cheap, aftermarket or possibly used-car-sourced catalytic converter. Somehow, he or she finagled a smog inspection, and then sold the car to your son at a nice markup and changed his or her phone number. 

The seller obviously knew that your son wouldn't discover the problem until his next smog check was due, two years later. And here we are.

So his only real recourse, if he wants to keep the car, is to get a legitimate catalytic converter. And if he still has any information about the seller, particularly if it's a business, he should report it to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. That might not help your son, but perhaps it'll help someone else down the road. 

• 9 comments
• Car Talk
•  

jfbramfeld • a day ago

Instead of being a cheap or used catalytic converter, neither of which are necessarily bad, most likely a catalytic converter perfectly legal in the other 49 states was installed. I recently needed to replace one of two converters in Illinois. Unfortuntely, the car was built to California emission specs and I would get an engine light if I installed a normal converter. There is nothing wrong with used or after-market, there is a problem with non-California specifications, and the computer knows.

• 8

•hyhybt • 18 hours ago

Why does the smog test CARE where the converter came from, whether it was used, aftermarket, or whatever, if, as the letter says, it's doing its job?

• 4

Three_to_Five hyhybt • 17 hours ago

Because the government is in charge of the process. My guess is that they have some sort of special additional tax on the sale of converters, and thus won't let you register a car without one of their "approved" models even if it passes the test.

• 3

•Lee_T Three_to_Five • 14 hours ago

I'm assuming you don't live in California. At one time the smog became deadly, as in people dying. Despite the fact that Reagan convinced his faithful that government is the enemy, the Sacramento legislature actually came up with ways to make the environment livable. Personally I believe good government is good and bad government is bad, and if government is bad it's our responsibility to make it better. When I was a long-haired hippy in the 60s conservatives told me to love America or leave it. My advice to people who think all government is bad, move to Somalia, they have no viable government, you can see exactly what Reagan's ideology leads to.

• 4

.ks Lee_T • 13 hours ago

Off topic posts are considered to be poor etiquette.

• 3

Lee_T .ks • 12 hours ago

You may have meant to direct your reply to Three_to_Five.

• 1

jfbramfeld hyhybt • 18 hours ago

I assume an error code came up because a non-California converter was used. Maybe someone who reads this can explain how they are different.

.ks jfbramfeld • 13 hours ago

I am not an expert, but I have some experience with government testing requirements. My best guess is this: CA has particular certification requirements. Economies of scale may very well mean that it's cheaper to build all converters to CA standards than to have 2 models, but it costs money to have an independent lab certify them. Again, economics dictates you only certify those you are sending to CA.
Or maybe I'm wrong. Anybody know for sure?

RandomJoeCitizen • 17 hours ago

Converters installed in CA must be certified in CA - I'm going through this currently. Vendors outside of the state cannot even ship converters to California, even if they are factory parts.

It's such a racket, but, these laws have greatly reduced the smog in California. So, we have to purchase them within the state. They can be dealer parts or aftermarket, but only if they are certified