Emissions Law Change

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ARJMN

ARJMN

Joined
Feb 20, 2017
Threads
58
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1,198
Location
Tucson, AZ
Putting this out there for conversation. Last week, I took my LS swapped 1997 LX450 to the smog check and was failed due to a law change sometime recently. I have had to prove my case each of the previous 3 checks that I had done everything by the book with respect to the law. Normally, they just come out and look at my paperwork and give me a pass. This time they plugged into my OBD2 port and the screen came up with a fail condition. I was told that the chassis serial number had to be in the engine ECM due to a change in laws. This is not possible due to the fact that I have a GM engine in a Toyota chassis. I was told they could do nothing for me, but I could file an appeal, which I did on the spot. I got a call from the head of the smog checks for Tucson and he said that it was out of his control and that he had been getting a flood of pissed off people with this same issue. He was bundling them and sending them over to the state office that handles those laws, and I now sit in waiting to hear back. I currently have expired tags that I cannot renew and thus can not drive my 80 Series legally.

Has anyone else here faced this or have any intel on the debacle?
 
Wow. That is going to affect a lot of people.
 
In Arizona, if you have classic car insurance on your vehicle it’s exempt from emissions. I’ve done it with several vehicles ranging from a Pinzgauer to a Ford truck. The caveat to it is you have to have a vehicle with regular insurance for every driver in your house. So say you have 2 drivers in your household, you would need 2 vehicles say insured with Farmers that pass emissions and then your 3rd vehicle (the 80) and insure it with Hagarty and you walk into a 3rd party dmv with your insurance card from Hagarty they’ll give you tags with out emissions. But say it’s your daily and it’s the only vehicle you have, this won’t work because you aren’t driving an emissions vehicle “most of the time”.
 
Wow I’d like to see the ruling on this - that kinda sucks. Keep us updated please.

BTW I’ve had the classic insurance, never heard of a need to have any other vehicle with regular insurance.
 
SonoranCruisers said:
In Arizona, if you have classic car insurance on your vehicle it’s exempt from emissions. I’ve done it with several vehicles ranging from a Pinzgauer to a Ford truck. The caveat to it is you have to have a vehicle with regular insurance for every driver in your house. So say you have 2 drivers in your household, you would need 2 vehicles say insured with Farmers that pass emissions and then your 3rd vehicle (the 80) and insure it with Hagarty and you walk into a 3rd party dmv with your insurance card from Hagarty they’ll give you tags with out emissions. But say it’s your daily and it’s the only vehicle you have, this won’t work because you aren’t driving an emissions vehicle “most of the time”.
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I don't recommend this as classic car insurance has strict exclusions on their policy that makes their coverage worthless. It's great for true collector vehicles, but if you want to use your cruiser for a daily, off-roading or anything fun it's not a good option.

Buy a piece of cheap land in a non-emissions county and register your stuff there.
 
SonoranCruisers said:
In Arizona, if you have classic car insurance on your vehicle it’s exempt from emissions. I’ve done it with several vehicles ranging from a Pinzgauer to a Ford truck. The caveat to it is you have to have a vehicle with regular insurance for every driver in your house. So say you have 2 drivers in your household, you would need 2 vehicles say insured with Farmers that pass emissions and then your 3rd vehicle (the 80) and insure it with Hagarty and you walk into a 3rd party dmv with your insurance card from Hagarty they’ll give you tags with out emissions. But say it’s your daily and it’s the only vehicle you have, this won’t work because you aren’t driving an emissions vehicle “most of the time”.
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You may need to double check that now. When I asked about Classic Car Plates, they replied that any car that has an OBD port must pass the scan.
 
there’s a couple local places that will register your truck to any address out of county. Just need to know the person that lives there so you can pick up your tags Lol
 
Do you know if you can register as classic car after failing emissions inspection? I have registered 2 Land Cruisers using the classic car insurance through Hagerty and it worked great.
 
One alternative solution, and it only requires you to stop by a Circle-K on your way home from the DMV, and a small manual action once you're back in your truck:

1718148713829.png

(not legal advice; not a lawyer)
 
All are good ideas…!

I may just say eff this BS and register my swapped rigs in Arkansas. I have family and friends there that will let me use their address. I guess first I’ll give AZ a chance .
 
ARJMN said:
Putting this out there for conversation. Last week, I took my LS swapped 1997 LX450 to the smog check and was failed due to a law change sometime recently. I have had to prove my case each of the previous 3 checks that I had done everything by the book with respect to the law. Normally, they just come out and look at my paperwork and give me a pass. This time they plugged into my OBD2 port and the screen came up with a fail condition. I was told that the chassis serial number had to be in the engine ECM due to a change in laws. This is not possible due to the fact that I have a GM engine in a Toyota chassis. I was told they could do nothing for me, but I could file an appeal, which I did on the spot. I got a call from the head of the smog checks for Tucson and he said that it was out of his control and that he had been getting a flood of pissed off people with this same issue. He was bundling them and sending them over to the state office that handles those laws, and I now sit in waiting to hear back. I currently have expired tags that I cannot renew and thus can not drive my 80 Series legally.

Has anyone else here faced this or have any intel on the debacle?
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Which law did they cite?
 
ARJMN said:
I have downloaded the entirety of HB2546 and can find no mention of swaps, replacement, etc of engines.

Arizona-2024-HB2546-Engrossed - https://legiscan.com/AZ/text/HB2546/id/2937310/Arizona-2024-HB2546-Engrossed.html

https://www.azleg.gov/arsDetail/?title=49

When I hear back from the State, I will ask them for the exact section of the law.
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It looks to me like this law didn't pass. It looks like it failed on the third vote in the Senate. Are you sure that this is the new law that is the issue?

Jared
 
sjpitts said:
It looks to me like this law didn't pass. It looks like it failed on the third vote in the Senate. Are you sure that this is the new law that is the issue?

Jared
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And this proposed law seemed to make only limited changes--- specifically, it appears to exempt newer cars 2019 and an, but not make any changes to the laws of cars before that.
 
sjpitts said:
And this proposed law seemed to make only limited changes--- specifically, it appears to exempt newer cars 2019 and an, but not make any changes to the laws of cars before that.
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And my ten second reading of the existing law--- seems to say that you either have to pass an idle test or an OBD2 test. But not both

Capture.JPG


So my best guess is that it was not a change in the law---- but a change in the regulations that implement law--- either by Biden at the Federal level or by the Governor at the state level.
 
After more searching:

There was a proposal made for new rules in 2022. See here.

And here is a PDF of the new proposal. 2022 proposal

Page 13 has a summary of the OBD testing change:

Capture5.JPG


I am guessing that these new rules were approved and recently took effect. I haven't found that yet, but I am still looking.

Jared
 
sjpitts said:
And my ten second reading of the existing law--- seems to say that you either have to pass an idle test or an OBD2 test. But not both

View attachment 3653159

So my best guess is that it was not a change in the law---- but a change in the regulations that implement law--- either by Biden at the Federal level or by the Governor at the state level.
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There's no federal emissions testing.
 
Eyedaho said:
There's no federal emissions testing.
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The emission testing program is run by the state, but it is mandated by the feds. And I believe that changes to the system have to be approved by the EPA.
 
sjpitts said:
It looks to me like this law didn't pass. It looks like it failed on the third vote in the Senate. Are you sure that this is the new law that is the issue?

Jared
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Jared, I do not know what law is the issue. I have searched more after that initial post and can find nothing that matches what I was told. At this point I am stuck waiting with no info on who or how I can pursue answers further. I will be calling the emissions manager again this week to see if he can tell me any more.
 
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