Are US auto emissions regulations about to fall by the wayside?

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

In my experience, testing with Cummins on dodge ram product and heavy duty product, the less hard your run the engine the worse dpf's plug. Most people complaining about this stuff don't run hard enough or hot enough regularly. Think grocery getter.  Same issue with vanes sticking on Vgt turbos. Runn them harder they last longer.  Puts around and they stick. 
 

So the solution to getting emissions equipment to function properly is to drive it longer and harder than your needs may require. That sounds a bit like a dog chasing it's tail. 

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

I didn't say this was great tech. Just the only stuff that works now for the duty cycles.  Just sharing my experience.  
 

I'm just sharing my experiences in test cells.  If have better tech or better ideas go for it.  No one is mandating the existing tech, but I will say it does run better when you run it harder.  Driving a diesel pickup around town with no load is about the worst thing you can do the engine, turbo and emissions gear  

cummmins did just announce its first ever gasoline inline 6.  They're turning the 6.7 diesel into a turbo d gas engine. I'm sure thst would go well in a ram, probably Meet duty cycles and emissions. Probably do crap for mpg.  

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

Yes, but is it unreasonable to expect the product to work at all duty cycles, especially when it did previously? And if a regulation changed that and led to a drastic decrease in reliability, shouldn't that be re-examined? 

To be fair, if the USA is going to compete with China's manufacturing juggernaut and attract jobs back to the USA, it needs to compete on a level playing field. Not that we will be able to see any fields, but that is not the point.

As Kreb mentioned, we survived this once before, so we will probably survive it again.

In reply to NOHOME :

It's too bad that we only have two choices. 

In reply to NOHOME :

Those of us who are old enough remember pre-emission controls days, when cars had minimal positive crankcase ventilation systems and every lane on the highway had a dark oily strip down the middle.  I don't expect any relaxing of current regulations is going to return us to those days, but regardless of what the petroleum industry lobbyists are telling the current administration any step back is a not going to be a good idea for the planet.

When we first started trying to reduce emissions in the 70's we ended up with around a decade of cars that ran better and were more reliable when the emissions equipment was removed.  Now gas engines are cleaner and more efficient than ever.  Electronic fuel injection counts for no small part of that but things like EGR and exhaust catalyst  have just gotten better due to continued refinement.  I think we're experiencing the same thing with diesels now.  Diesel after treatment systems are already improving but they obviously still have a ways to go.  There's also going to be a period after they've improved before their reputation catches up.  

As far as automotive emissions regulations go, I wish that the US and the Euros would come up with a standardized set of regulations. 

Boost_Crazy said:

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

Yes, but is it unreasonable to expect the product to work at all duty cycles, especially when it did previously? And if a regulation changed that and led to a drastic decrease in reliability, shouldn't that be re-examined? 

The regulation requires 150k emissions reliability.  That's more than it ever has been, so what regulation decreased reliability?  

If it's the SRC system, that's totally up to the OEM's to choose, not the regulation.  And directed at the OEM's, as well, no it's not unreasonable to expect the system to work at all duty cycles.  But be reminded that previous technology isn't good enough to meet the standards.  It's partially one reason the new large gas engines exist- those can make the required power for pretty straight forward technology.

madmrak351 said:

As far as automotive emissions regulations go, I wish that the US and the Euros would come up with a standardized set of regulations. 

So would OEMs.  One key sticking point is that they previously let diesels have easier standards- but that changed after the VW thing.  Let alone, their testing requirements are much more expensive, as they are done on road.  It's rather nice that the EPA and CARB have figured out how the required lab testing extrapolates to the real world.  

It would also be nice if China got into that same act.  As it stood in 2022, they had the hardest of the hard requirements in the world.  All there for a large city that's higher than 2500m.

Keith Tanner said:

If I were a manufacturer, I would not count on this sticking. The US is proving to be very erratic and unpredictable, and it's quite possible there will be a complete u-turn in four years. The safe option is to keep building to the CA specs.

As an aftermarket shop, we'll probably take the same tack. In the past year, we've spent the equivalent of a new car on emissions testing to prove our stuff is clean and can be sold in CA. The latter isn't going to change, and in four years we may once again be happy to have those certifications.

I'm not looking forward to the celebratory coal rollers, though. I ride bicycles and drive convertibles.

All of this.  Anyone who bases their plans on chaos is missing the point of a plan, and any business that does the same is run by fools