Air Pollution: EPA Not Adequately Ensuring Vehicles Comply With Emission Standards
RCED-90-128
Published: Jul 25, 1990. Publicly Released: Sep 17, 1990.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the effectiveness of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) efforts to control air pollution from motor vehicles, focusing on EPA efforts to: (1) identify vehicles exceeding emission standards before and after they are sold to the public; (2) ensure that such vehicles are returned to compliance; and (3) monitor state programs to reduce motor vehicle emissions.
Recommendations
Matter for Congressional Consideration
| Matter | Status | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Congress should include in final Clean Air Act legislation a user fee provision authorizing EPA to charge manufacturers for some or all of the testing costs. | Congress, as part of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, included a user fee provision authorizing EPA to charge manufacturers for some testing costs. EPA states that user fees will be charged to manufacturers beginning with model year 1993 vehicles. |
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Environmental Protection Agency | In order to better prevent the sale of vehicles that in use fail to meet emission standards, and to better identify those already sold, the Administrator, EPA, should change the method for determining deterioration rates of emission systems to include the use of actual data from in-use vehicles to provide more accurate forecasts of whether vehicles will meet emission standards throughout their useful life. |
EPA has initiated interim changes that allows automobile manufacturers an alternative procedure to certify vehicles, including tracking the in-use emissions from vehicles. Beginning in model year 1996, EPA will adopt comprehensive changes in line with the recommendation.
|
| Environmental Protection Agency | In order to better prevent the sale of vehicles that in use fail to meet emission standards, and to better identify those already sold, the Administrator, EPA, should change the testing of in-use vehicles to include a sample of nontargeted vehicles and thereby provide more comprehensive coverage of the in-use motor vehicle fleet. |
EPA is increasing the number of vehicles it performs emission tests on during 1992.
|
| Environmental Protection Agency | In order to better prevent the sale of vehicles that in use fail to meet emission standards, and to better identify those already sold, the Administrator, EPA, should determine the appropriate level of testing necessary to ensure that noncomplying vehicles are identified and determine the resources needed to fund any additional testing. |
EPA has increased testing during 1992 and will assess the results to determine the extent of testing needed.
|
| Environmental Protection Agency | The Administrator, EPA, should select and implement options that would best increase recall response rates. If warranted, the Administrator should seek additional legislative authority to implement those options that are not currently within the Administrator's authority to implement. |
EPA issued its final inspection and maintenance regulation on November 6, 1992 which contained detailed guidance to states on required measures to increase vehicle owners' response rates to manufacturers' recalls for emission-related repairs.
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| Environmental Protection Agency | In order to ensure that state inspection and maintenance programs are operating effectively and in compliance with their state plans for achieving air quality standards, the Administrator, EPA, should not wait for passage of the Clean Air Act amendments and should proceed with efforts to formally require states to submit semiannually specific operating data, such as the number of vehicles by model year passing or failing emission tests. |
EPA required specific operating data annually on the number of vehicles, by model year, that pass or fail emission tests. This data should enhance EPA ability to monitor the effectiveness of the inspection and maintenance programs.
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| Environmental Protection Agency | In order to ensure that state inspection and maintenance programs are operating effectively and in compliance with their state plans for achieving air quality standards, the Administrator, EPA, should ensure that program results are compared to minimum emission reduction requirements by conducting effectiveness measurements of inspection and maintenance programs periodically. |
The Clean Air Act amendments that were enacted 6 months after the report delegated the requirements called for in the recommendation to the states. Therefore, the recommendation is no longer applicable.
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Air pollutionstate relationsInspectionMotor vehicle pollution controlMotor vehicle repairsMotor vehicle standardsProduct recallsRegulatory agenciesState programsMotor vehicles