Oregon Offers Emissions Monitor to Motorists

Motor, Nov 2005 by Nash, Tom

According to a report in the Portland Oregonian, the state of Oregon is introducing a transponder box that will allow officials to track and ticket motorists for emissions-related violations.

The $39 box is being marketed as a convenience to residents because it eliminates the need for emissions testing as part of the biannual car registration ritual in major metropolitan areas. The program is in a testing phase now and will be introduced on a voluntary basis next year.

The transponder box hooks up to a car's on-board diagnostics (OBD II) port and continuously monitors the vehicles emissions system. It transmits a unique identifier to an unspecified number of roadside sensors that will record who drives by, when and whether any fault codes are present. If a violation is found, the owner has 45 days to have the car fixed before a ticket is issued.

The newspaper says Oregon has not had a significant problem with OBD II-equipped vehicles failing inspection. In 2004, the state performed nearly 300,000 OBD II tests, with 97% of the vehicles passing.

Ted Kotsakis, the head of Oregon's Vehicle Inspection Program, says he's not interested in using the infrastructure to issue speeding tickets. "I don't care where they've been or how fast diey're driving," he said.

The Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which runs the inspection program, is also experimenting with less intrusive options to make the process easier. Some areas will now have 24-hour self-serve OBD II testing kiosks, and motorists may be able to purchase an OBD II plug-in module that can transmit emissions codes from home at renewal time without the use of the transponder.