Posted to Emissions Forum on 1/15/2013
3 Replies
Hi Jason,
I believe that he is giving a specific example from a much
larger group of improper or incomplete repairs. I call this
particular one "Cat-slap Fever", with apologies to Terrible
Ted.
The sad truth of the matter is that these types of repairs
occur rampantly in certain demographics, and can cause
untold damage, due to the illogical nature of the FuPR
scoring system.
A failing vehicle can be made to pass a 100% unbiased,
legitimate, competent, thorough inspection, without
correcting root causes, but usually only temporarily. It
doesn't take a genius to do it, either; trust me, I have
witnessed hundreds of examples. If the diagnosis, repair,
and maintenance sides of the dice were properly delineated
and regulated, this would become much more difficult.
Of course, the problem is that customers are allowed (by
regulation) to repair their own vehicles. How they go about
doing that is entirely up to them, but I can assure you that
the vast majority of them are not qualified to do so.
Another problem is that the customer, if he/she decides to
take a failing vehicle to a repair shop, is (by regulation)
in complete control of the diagnosis and repair process
through the approval of repairs performed. It is very common
for me to provide an exhaustive list of recommendations
following a proper diagnosis, only to see it "cherry-picked"
to accommodate the customer's budget, schedule, and whim.
If all of these cases that I mentioned resulted in an
after-repair failure, then all would be well. Unfortunately,
that is not the case; many, (>50%), slip through the cracks
and either barely pass, or pass temporarily.
Inspectors that take steps to avoid these vehicles, by
whatever means necessary, are less likely to suffer any FuPR
damage. Inspectors that test-as-received, with no bias or
prejudice, are more likely to suffer FuPR damage, regardless
of their level of "inspection performance", as STAR likes to
call it.
Test-Only centers are more susceptible to this phenomenon,
but it can happen to anyone that doesn't take steps to avoid
these situations.
Take care,
Michael Barry Technician Quick Stop Smog & More Sacramento, California, USA
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