I went to a shop today to smog a used 1992 SC300 I just bought and they referred me to a test only station because the computer said so. I went to a the test only station next door and I passed. The certificate said "Inspection Reason: High Emitter Profile". What does that mean???

 

I don't know what's the DMV criteria for High Emitter Profile. Maybe DMV use model year to draw the line, typical older car has higher pollution potential. My 97 Avalon for the last 2 SMOG checks all have gone to Test Only Station.

This is one of the SMOG check manager told me about two years ago: One of the reason Calif has Test Only Station is way back a few years ago when Calif wanted to tighten the SMOG requirement, some geniuses at Sacramento "figured" that there will not be enough SMOG Test Repair shop around to perform the test. So California asked people to open more SMOG test station. Why would consumers take their cars to Test Only station? Everyone wants to take to a place they could repair their car in case it failed the SMOG test? So these geniuses came up an idea to allocate certain percentage of cars to SMOG TEST ONLY, so these station will have enough guaranteed business. You could see normal SMOG test fee for SMOG Test and Repair shop is much cheaper than TEST ONLY station. This is another sample of you are screwed by your State Goverment to pay more for the same test.

 

From http://www.fresnocog.org/outlook10/smogcheck2.html :

High Emitter Profile computer model: State law requires that 15% of all vehicles in Enhanced Areas of the state be directed to test-only stations rather than the previously used test-and-repair shops. Thirteen of the 15 percent will be vehicles which, based on previous smog check results, statistically have a higher chance of failing the smog check, while two percent will be chosen at random. Using a computer model called a High Emitter Profile that includes data from previous smog checks, as well as data about many different aspects of vehicles, the California Bureau of Automotive Repair determines which vehicles are sent to test-only stations.

More info at: http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/stdhome.asp , including a nifty screen where you put in the license plate number and get the VIN back.

 

The main reason they have test only center is to cut down on cheaters, but I won't go into how they cheat. Vehicles with highest probability of failing get the invitations.

 

If people wants to cheat, they could cheat on Test Only can't they?

 

Here are my results:

 

The key words are cutting down on cheaters and not preventing all cheaters from cheating.