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This "car-tinkering app" is used as a glorified GameShark for deleting factory emissions controls, I don't feel sorry for anyone who uses this to roll coal or w
by midtake 5mo ago
This "car-tinkering app" is used as a glorified GameShark for deleting factory emissions controls, I don't feel sorry for anyone who uses this to roll coal or whatever. Instead of investigating everyone on the list of users of this app, should the government instead ban diesel engines knowing their emissions controls software will be defeated? Should environmental regulations be relaxed? What is really the solution here?
- traderj0e 5mo agoThey want testimonies to use against the app. The solution they're trying to pursue is to outlaw the app, not investigate its users.
- repiret 5mo agoPeriodic vehicle inspection for emissions and safety compliance. Many jurisdictions already have this for gas engine emissions, a handful of states already have safety inspections. Done right, it can be low burden and low cost, and basically put an end to Def deletion. Done poorly it's grift to the shops that do the inspections, and an economically external annoyance to vehicle owners, and unnecessarily limits the ability of people to tinker with their own vehicles.
- traderj0e 5mo agoI don't really care how it affects car modders or people with sports cars. I have a sports car, and yeah the California smog test has been super annoying cause of electrical problems with that are unrelated to its actual emissions, but I knew what I was getting into when I bought something known for unreliability. Fixed it myself. There's a dude across the street with a modded car who always complains he has to bribe the smog guy $500, as if he was forced into driving a track car on the street. I just want regular cars to be drivable without undue burdens, and the enthusiasts can deal with it. California gasoline tax pisses me off more because it's higher than anywhere else and the money seemingly goes nowhere.
- Computer0 5mo agoAs someone who lives in a state that got rid of emissions testing before I could drive it sounds like a horrifying thing to have to deal with.
- paulryanrogers 5mo agoWhy is it horrifying? I've taken cars in for testing for years. It's pretty quick and painless.
- traderj0e 5mo agoWas going to say, you only hear stories from the relatively few people who have issues, not the people who go in and out as usual.
- emdash 5mo agoMy car wouldn't pass, not because it can't pass the emissions test, but because the original equipment that California requires by law failed years ago and replacements are not available. So I would be forced to get rid of my perfectly good car and buy an expensive new one not because it doesn't work, but because the law strictly requires original equipment.
- Computer0 5mo agoAll my Vehicles are many decades older. I think it would impose a financial burden on many in my community who also have older vehicles (less financially well off) to get them up to 'spec'. The vast majority of cars are newer and would have no issue passing.
- ryandrake 5mo agoI had to sell by beloved modded sports car when I moved to California. It blew clean as a whistle, but since the aftermarket parts were all from out of state (installed over the course of years), the state failed it as “tampered.” What a pile of shit. These guys are somehow driving around rolling coal on cyclists without getting grief, but I have to get rid of my car because it doesn’t have the right CA stamp on the intake system. CA’s system is terrible for home mechanics.
- robocat 5mo ago> Done right, it can be low burden and low cost The rules mostly penalise the poor (and often unfairly). You are severely underestimating how hard "done right" is. I'm from New Zealand and the yearly car checkup is burdensome. About $75 and an hour wasted minimum to get car checked. However the workshop profits come from fixing faults so their economic incentive is to find faults. It costs you way more time if something needs fixing (parts delays, getting car and from workshop, etc.) Our warrant of fitness regulations are ostensibly for safety (yours and others). However the jobsworth wonks have zero incentive to balance the risks versus the costs. The rules get stricter every year for goals that have no measurable outcome. Many of the safety regulations are sensible, but many are just bullshit.
- traderj0e 5mo agoNew Zealand sounds unreasonable. It's reasonable in like California. They don't mandate yearly checkups, just smog testing which is every 2 years for cars older than 8 years.
- solraph 5mo agoFrom memory (I haven't lived in NZ for a while now), the WoF check could be done at VTNZ stations, which explicitly did not do repairs to avoid this conflict of interest. Alas, it looks like VTNZ was privatised and the exact outcome you would expect happened.
- robocat 5mo agoYou imply that privatisation is the cause. But really I think the government incentives are the root cause. Fortunately I can still find workshops that care about doing a good job (more than they care about ripping off customers). But I feel bad for anyone who can't pick good services: which takes skill and costs time. I never used VTNZ because I found them to be overly picky when I tried them. I thought VTNZ followed the rules too strictly and you didn't get any fair relaxation. I didn't know the history you have mentioned.
- eightysixfour 5mo agoStates, like Texas, are getting rid of this. Although they still collect the fee of course.
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- whalesalad 5mo agofederal and state governments buy and operate diesel vehicles without emissions controls because of how bad they are in critical situations. rules for thee but not for me.
- traderj0e 5mo agoThese drivers aren't in critical situations, and their mods aren't designed for that
- whalesalad 5mo agoHonestly, how do you know? Regardless, it's completely unfair. The government knows emissions control tech takes one of the most reliable workhorse powerplants in the world and neuters it, weakens it, and makes it more susceptible to failure. A lot of folks delete their diesel trucks not to "roll coal" or own the libs, but because it makes their vehicles more reliable.
- traderj0e 5mo agoModern trucks, even with emissions controls, are more powerful than anything older. Engines are more reliable if anything, though there are plenty of pesky non-engine electronics ruining the useful lifespans of modern cars. If you're talking about black smoke out of the exhaust, no it doesn't help reliability. If you just mean tuning to optimize not for emissions, yeah it can help if you know exactly what you're doing or screw it up if you don't, either way you'll only find out later. Doesn't seem to matter because most professionals already make their living without messing with their trucks. idk who downvoted you, that's not appropriate, so +1'd you to avoid comment death
- ryeights 5mo agoSo what? It's anti-social behavior. What thought does the deleted diesel truck driver give to his fellow citizens, whose otherwise reliable respiratory systems are weakened and made more susceptible to failure by toxic fumes and particulates?
- 650REDHAIR 5mo agoOr, I don't know, enforce current laws on the books and have cops do their job? I've watched traffic code enforcement drop to essentially non-existent numbers largely because apathetical agencies and "officer safety" concerns. I'd rather they go after people actively rolling coal instead of violating the rights of thousands of Americans like me.
- chii 5mo agoThe enforcement agencies all want easy ways to perform their enforcement duties. Enforcing it the hard way by catching people in the act, or even spot checking, is difficult, and takes work and budget. However, in asking such enforcement work to be made easy, the cost is borne by the rest of the innocents in losing their privacy or rights. Individually, each single instance of such loss is minuscule, but collectively it's a huge loss of rights and privacy - not to mention precedence.
- therobots927 5mo agoWell if they don’t want to get defunded they better start doing their jobs. Not that they were all that useful in the first place. If your house is getting broken into the cops will not be able to help you. So I don’t know what the big deal is about defunding the police. It’s not clear to me what the money is being used for.
- array_key_first 5mo agoCops are worthless but, more importantly, they have huge leverage. They can just stop policing at any time as a form of protest, and departments regularly do that. The system needs fundamental reform.
- simulator5g 5mo ago"This "web browser" is used as a glorified-" Don't go down this road.
- gregoriol 5mo agoMaybe they should ban metal grinders as they allow people to steal things?