njautoemissions

An emissions test done in half a second as a car whizzes by at 60 mph?

How about a car that tattles on itself by placing a phone call to the Division of Motor Vehicles?

Or no smog check at all for cars less than six years old?

These are all options the Environmental Protection Agency and many states -- including New Jersey -- are studying to make the every-other-year ritual of car inspection easier on drivers and more accurate for the environment.

"We want to make the most efficient test we can," said Don Zinger, assistant director of the EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality. "And for the states, we want a test that is not costly or difficult to conduct."

New Jersey knows about cost and difficulty when it comes to auto inspections. The state is just emerging from the highly public failings of its 1999 switch to the treadmill test -- which broke down in cold weather, created three-hour waiting lines, and spawned an investigation into how the contractor was selected.

Now the EPA has asked New Jersey to switch gears again, moving from the treadmill to a computerized test that relies on a car's own computers to diagnose emissions problems.

Officials from the state Department of Environmental Protection are skeptical, though. They say the new test may fail vehicles that should pass, costing drivers money for unnecessary repairs.

But few alternatives are available. Two relatively new systems -- drive-by testing and self-reporting vehicles -- rely on technology that is not yet perfected. Another option is to extend the exemption for new cars.

Some states are experimenting with the alternatives. New Jersey officials have yet to embrace them, citing their cost and spotty track records. But they hope to incorporate some of the technology on a limited basis.

Until now, emissions testing nationwide has been considered a failure. A report commissioned by Congress and released last month said current and past emissions tests mandated by the EPA have done a poor job in identifying high polluters.

"The [national] inspection program has not been effective at all," said Doug Lawson, who co-authored a report on auto inspections for the National Research Council. "Let's try some new methods that would cost consumers less money, yet be more effective in cleaning the air."

Specifically, the research council found that too many "clean" cars had to be inspected to find one "dirty" car. Only about 5 percent of vehicles nationwide are high polluters, Lawson said.

Using Lawson's ratio, it costs New Jersey about $500 to find one dirty car.

"There is an exceedingly small amount of cars on the road that are high emitters," Lawson said. "The general fleet has gotten so clean, it's really a needle in a haystack."

That's why officials are looking at alternatives.

On-road testing

Put simply, the test samples a car's emissions as it drives by a random checkpoint that could be located at a tollbooth or on an exit ramp.