Termyn8or
Posts: 18681
Joined: 11/12/2005
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Well I guess it's time for me, on page three to get the topic somewhere near on track if possible.
While I fully agree that this is not a good time for stricter controls on emissions, ignoring problems forever is what got us here, so consider the folowing.
Those standards apply to all cars sold in the US, therefore all must comply. That includes the foreign firms.
CA has had stricter than federal standards for decades, look an car manuals back to the 1970s, there is a US version and a CA version of the emission control system at the very least. The laws really got out of hand, I mean to the point that enthusiasts could get street legal headers and oversized exhaust, but only if they used certain camshafts. It didn't matter if they actually lowered the emissions on their own car, the part design had to be tested independently to assure that it inherently lowered, or at the very least would not increase emissions. That is not good, because the net effect was probably to stifle individual creativity and innovation in the field.
However on the flipside of course is the fact that CA actually needs to be a bit stricter because of the population density and the lay of the land. I can accept that, but the red tape they created for such people was an overall negative. People would actually buy a different new car because they found that they could buy more street legal aftermarket performance parts for it.
In Infernoland, which is a paperback adaptation of Dante's Inferno, hell is described as "too much too late". Perhaps this applies here.
Now let's forget about market rules for now, and focus for a moment on market LAWS. Let's say the government imposes restrictions that no auto manufacturer can currently meet. What would happen ? There would be no cars for sale. Any bailout, bankruptcy or anything else that works has to be achievable. The idea is to get the auto industry moving again, even in light of the fact that foreign makers are having alot less trouble with dealing here. For the auto industry to get moving, there has to be some cars for sale, that people can afford. Market LAW might just make the gov back off a bit.
And none of this solves the problem, but alas we can't expect them to really think can we ? Put it this way, you reduce emissions to zero from cars, that does nothing about factories, pickling and other chemical based processing plants, nothing of the sort. Add to that the fact that even if there are a bunch of cars on the road that meet current standards, one car with one bad spark plug puts out more pollution than at least ten cars running right. And that's even if you take all the catalytic converters off and things like that.
Also, from one who has dabbled quite a bit in performance/emissions issues for a long time, the converter does nothing for a perfectly tuned engine. Now they actually have to detune the engine to fuel the convetrter. That costs efficiency, so where's the logic in that ?
I would say that the impetus for this stricter emission control is (at best) to make it behoove them to advance in hybrid and electric technology. However even if the intentions are the best, the government will almost always apply it the worst way.
T
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RE: New Emissions Rules: Is Mr. Obama Killing Detroit? - 
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