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quirky1

AirCare serves no purpose, other than to annoy motorists

21 posts in this topic

I personally always wished they expand the program, not end it. The most annoying thing I find about it is that it doesn't apply to cars outside of the Lower Mainland. Is it perfect? Hell no. Does it even set out to achieve its purpose? Well, yes - I think it does... albeit not directly necessarily. I think it should be fixed rather than scrapped. I guess i don't care if its "AirCare" or something else... but dirty cars should be off the road.

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Should be mechanical inspection as well as emissions testing. I can't believe how many idiots are driving with burnt out lights, defective brake light switches, and bald tires in the lower mainland. Also noticed a definitive correlation between these drivers and those driving without a seat belt while using a hand held device...

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Canada needs a TÜV test so badly it's not funny. The rednecks want to deep six it. The moronic editorial in today's Sun was pure redneck drivel.

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Canada needs a TÜV test so badly it's not funny. The rednecks want to deep six it. The moronic editorial in today's Sun was pure redneck drivel.

Some of us were not privy to that editorial. Could you possibly post it for our amusement?

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It is working. I am over here in colombo Sri Lanka and the tuk tuks are all two stroke and the busses and vans are all mechanical diesel. You can hardly breath on your commute into town, eyes are running when you get home. Aircare is a pain, yes, but worth it, yes!Alanps no smart cars here Im going through withdrawal.

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Some of us were not privy to that editorial. Could you possibly post it for our amusement?

I read it in a real paper, and I'd not want to spread the article anyway! The gist was that AirCare is a bureaucrat's dream - self-funded, does no good at all other than keep BCGE Union members employed. Vancouver Sun may have it online. Roughly 15% of tested cars fail.

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Some of us were not privy to that editorial. Could you possibly post it for our amusement?

Click on the link above the quote in the original post.One argument against AirCare is that newer cars have sophisticated pollution control systems that limit emissions unlike cars that were manufactured in the last century. Therefore gains are being achieved through improvements in technology rather than through AirCare. Edited by quirky1

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BC used to have once a year vehicle testing in the major areas - it got a lot of the crap off the road and assured that at least part of the time people actually took care of burnt out lights and brakes. The testing got clobbered when all the used car salesmen got elected to power under the former Social Credit party banner - that and new cars sales - they were a pretty strong lobby as they often actually had to fix up cars before they flogged them on poor unsuspecting buyers. I would like to see it brought back - they used to do a tailpipe check as well - mainly for excessive oil consumption - which was a valid reason to get a car off the road.Air Care has it's place in built up areas but the wisdom of it in rural areas sort of reaches the point of diminishing returns. As well it is not exactly effective as if your car is too bad they just have sliding limit on the cost of repairs based on age of the vehicle and off you go. Besides it doesn't apply to commercial vehicles and I assure you that a fully loaded cement truck is going to spew more crap in a day than my smart in a month.Cheers,Cameron

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One thing I will say about AirCare is when we had our Nissan off the road for a year,upon deciding to re-insure it, all the tester did was plug in to the OBD port and then proceed to fail the car because a PO code came up which indicated the power to the ECUhad been interrupted. This was of course because I had disconnected the battery. He refusedto pass the car even though the code had nothing to do whatsoever with emission results. I then drove the car until the code cleared and then went back for a retest. A waste of time and $25.00in my opinion...

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I favour the mandatory safety certification and emissions testing of all vehicles upon change of ownership. That was done in Ontario when I left there more than 25 years ago. I remember being surprised it was not done here in BC - that to transfer a car you just scribble your signature on a piece of paper and off you go.:sun:

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I read it in a real paper, and I'd not want to spread the article anyway!

Fair enough. Thanks for the response anyway.There was talk here in Ontario about doing E-testing on older vehicles up to a point where they become 20 years old, then discontinuing the tests on them. The theory behind that is (1) The number of vehicles that would fall into this category would rapidly decline after about the age of 15, and (2) They felt that anyone who had a vehicle still on the road after 20 years was obviously looking after it mechanically, and therefore should be up to the pollution specs for a car of that age.Well, that was the plan. So far, they have still deemed it nessessary to e-test anything they feel they want to. (can you spell cash grab?) I'm not sure where the cut-off age is for e-testing, but can you imagine some guy with a 1935 Ford trying to pass an e-test?.. Good luck with that. :lol:BTW - An e-test on a smart in Ontario consists of a mechanic of a "qualified air quality testing station" standing behind the smart for 5 minutes with the car running at an idle. If no smoke is seen coming out of the exhaust pipe, you pass. Talk about a waste of $35. Edited by Leadwing

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Besides it doesn't apply to commercial vehicles and I assure you that a fully loaded cement truck is going to spew more crap in a day than my smart in a month.

Cheers,

Cameron

In a totally different area of the country (Ontario) commercial trucks must pass an e-test every 2 years in order to be relicensed. Passing the e-test is critical for commercial carriers, and they can be ordered to be re-tested at any time between the scheduled tests. Failing the test means the truck is taken out of service until the problem is corrected. Most of the crap that you see coming out of the stacks in Ontario is from trucks from out-of-province vehicles. The test is a P.I.T.A. but I don't complain about it because I know that trucks are the biggest polluters...by far. Pity that they don't do it there.

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If you register an out of province (or out of country) vehicle in BC you have to get it inspected - and if out of country it has to pass a Federal safety (Done at Canada Tire and a big joke in my book - you basically have to have DRL and maybe a child seat mount to pass). The BC inspection is done at a certified garage - and depending on the garage it may or may not be very thorough (i.e. there are taxi's on the road here that shouldn't be!). And once you have the BC inspection you are good for ever as far as safety. Cheers,Cameron

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Yeah, Snowball was inspected at TPM.....she already had fog lights and Euro turn signals and OE cruise control! They did notice but I was pardoned.

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'Leadwing' date='Nov 7 2010 - 03:01 PM' post='271585']There was talk here in Ontario about doing E-testing on older vehicles up to a point where they become 20 years old, then discontinuing the tests on them. I'm not sure where the cut-off age is for e-testing, but can you imagine some guy with a 1935 Ford trying to pass an e-test?1988 is the new cutoff date. From now on every year, this will be the cutoff date, it is no longer based on how many years old the car is (i.e. in 2019 the cutoff date will still be 1988).E-Tests have always been based on meeting the emission requirements of the year of manufacture. Hence our 5 year old diesels are not required to meet today's standards. We would all fail. This might be why real old cars are not being tested, being that real old cars never had to meet any emission standards when they were manufactured.

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Posted (edited) · Report post

Clark to phase out vehicle emissions testing

The AirCare program tests most passenger vehicles as a precondition to renew vehicle insurance. Since it started in 1992, more than 2.5 million vehicles have been tested, and more than a third have failed. However, the government says more stringent emission standards on newer cars have reduced the need for the program, and the rate of return is diminishing. The program will be eliminated at the end of 2014.Environment Minister Terry Lake said Thursday the focus of air pollution efforts will now shift to the heaviest polluters, such as heavy-duty commercial trucks. The government will also look at how to tackle diesel from construction, marine traffic and agricultural equipment like backhoes.

Edited by quirky1

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Idiots. We need a technical safety test too. Province wide.

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Listen: you can almost hear the snap and flutter as the storage covers come off those old piece-of-crap pickups and muscle cars that guys haven't been able to put on the road. All those 70s and 80s rattletraps with no airbags or ABS brakes or safety bumpers. 12 mpg Bondo-mobiles with no catalytic converters or any of that there smog can junk.Mission accomplished, Christie.

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I regularly see that crap on the road outside of the lower mainland!!I'm with Mike - bring back vehicle inspections for anything 5+ years old, every other year.... province wide.

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