This is not the first time we've heard this story BUT… WSAV.com warns Prius-driving metro-area Atlantans that their gas – electric vehicle may fail the local emissions test. It seems that the Prius' gas engine shuts down during the idling portion of the testing cycle, causing the test to abort. Since new cars are exempt from emission testing for the first three years of operation, the issue is just now coming to light. The state's manager for the testing program says it's a software glitch; they hope to have the problem fixed by next year. In the meantime, there's a ten-step procedure to work around the problem (first you have to acknowledge you have a problem…). Of course, the success of the alternative procedure depends on Clarence and Jim-Bob at Bubba's Bait Shop and Fillin' Station decipherin' the procedure needed fer testin' them funny-lookin' furrin' cars. [Frank's a son of the South– Ed.]
Find Reviews by Make:
Read all comments
The original article doesn’t mention how they plan to get around the fact that the Prius’ engine is shutdown at idle. So in theory, you could have legions of Priuses driving around with badly tuned engines spewing out pollutants and no one would know how to test them. With plug-in hybrids coming that can go for extended durations and high speeds on their battery, this testing loop hole can only get worse.
I wonder how other jurisdictions are handling this same problem. The cynic in me is predicting that they’ll all have their thumbs up each others arses as usual.
First off, the Prius does NOT have a “badly tuned engine spewing out pollutants”. The Prius has some of the cleanest/lowest emissions of any automobile on the market today.
The problem here is not with the Prius, but the fact that the Georgia emissions test is flawed. Why should the Prius “fail” just because it’s engine shuts down at idle? If that’s how the car works in everyday, real-world operation then so be it. It would be silly to do something like force the gas engine in the Prius to idle the whole time during the test if that’s not how a production Prius operates.
The EPA (and other States) seem to have no problem doing emissions testing for hybrids like the Prius.
The Prius has a built-in feature to keep the engine running during these tests. I’m not sure all that is involved but it involves repeatedly pressing the accelerator and shifting gears to enter the test mode. From what I understand you can also turn on the defroster and set temperature to Max Hot and it will keep the engine running. The tester in GA should know this.
A Prius’ “idle” emissions are zero. An engine which is shut down obviously isn’t emitting anything, and most of the time a Prius at full stop shuts down it’s gasoline engine.
If Georgia has a rolling road emissions test like California does then that will catch the rare Prius which has excessive emissions with it’s gasoline engine running. Perhaps Georgia is still in the technological dark ages of doing unloaded testing.
The Prius fails by refusing to spew pollutants when sitting still…
Perhaps a more equitable title would be “Georgia Emissions Test Fails…”
Nothing like bureaucratic boobery to lighten my day. What genius would claim a car emitting zero emissions during normal operating conditions has failed a test because it runs differently from other cars? Now they’ll spend a couple million dollars trying to figure out how to deal with this rather than just saying, “oh good, no emissions, super job, Prius.”
They should, and probably will, extend the exemption from emissions testing until this is fixed, and if they do not do so they are crazy idiots. We shall see.
I read the last sentance and all I could think of was Lewis Black’s story about Frog Gigging:
Well what do you know, a Billy Ray was involved…
It’s Georgia. They can’t figure out that if you double the population you should double the reservoir capacity so you can survive a drought.
DUH!!!!!!
Johnson,
He didn’t say that the Prii DID have bad engines, only that they ‘in theroy’ could. He then goes on to blame the testers. So, you agree with crater.
Why is it that the testing has gotten so insane? They had to test and retest my truck in Denver because the tester couldn’t get on the accelerator fast enough to meet the desires of the computer.
At any rate, after all the BS they put you through, if you fail, you pretty much can get out of fixing your car. So we spend millions of dollars to do the tests (not to mention wasting billions of dollars for the time lost to take the tests), but we rarely if ever get a car off the road or adequately prepared to fix the polluting?
Am I wrong on this? Please tell me I am. Please tell me that for every car that gets past the loopholes there are many that get a fix which actually reduces pollution.
I lived in Atlanta for three years and absolutely hated how emissions testing was delt with there. No rolling test, no (real) govt. supervision of the testing centers. But if you found the right testing center you were in luck. Let’s just say that even a 16 year old car that belches a lot of oil smoke from bad rings will pass the test with a properly motivated technician.
” … if you fail, you pretty much can get out of fixing your car. ”
That sure isn’t how it works in California, especially if the vehicle fails by a wide enough margin to be declared a gross polluter. It has to be fixed and the fix verified.
So in theory, you could have legions of Priuses driving around with badly tuned engines spewing out pollutants and no one would know how to test them.
If the engine was running that poorly, it would trip the OBDII computer and the car would fail anyway. But it would be interesting to see a shitty-running Prius belching up smog when the gas engine kicked in…
Why don’t they use the Ferrari method from “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off?”
Elevate the wheels by putting the car on blocks, then put a brick on the accelerator… Of course, unlike Ferrari’s, this may run up the odometer a tad…
Not if you’re in reverse.
If the engine was running that poorly, it would trip the OBDII computer and the car would fail anyway. But it would be interesting to see a shitty-running Prius belching up smog when the gas engine kicked in…
Right, because the computer ALWAYS works.