Most people go to SEMA for the booth babes and the giant wheels and the custom cars with the paint still drying. That part's fun. But it's also an industry show, and it's a way for us to address the big issues.
Our industry is coming under scrutiny by the EPA and CARB. This is nothing new, but this summer the EPA specifically called out mobile sources as a priority in their latest National Compliance Initiative - basically, the three year plan. SEMA put together a panel with a couple of CARB members, the head of the SEMA emissions group, an EPA representative and a couple of SEMA board members. It was a good discussion, even if SEMA is suing the EPA who is suing CARB.
The EPA is specifically going after emissions defeat devices, and no surprise it's being driven by coal rollers. But according to their numbers, 13% of diesel trucks sold in the last 10 years are running full defeat devices. They've done emissions testing on trucks with DPF deletes, cat deletes, EGR deletes etc and they're seeing a massive increase in emissions - that 13% of deleted trucks have the same effect on emissions as doubling truck sales overall. So it's no wonder that this has kicked off enforcement. It also extends to cars, of course. Test pipes, tuners designed to circumvent emissions controls - that sort of thing is a target.
They're going after the source, of course. Dealers and manufacturers. Not only are they looking at websites, but they're watching forums and social media. Organize a group buy to bring a bunch of full delete tuners in from overseas, and you may get a visit.
"But what about race cars???". As you probably know, the EPA considers any modification of emissions components on a motor vehicle (ie, a vehicle built for road use) to be in violation. But the rep stated that they are not enforcing vehicles that have been converted to 100% track vehicles and removed from the road. So you can pull the cat off your Spec Miata that gets trailered everywhere so you don't melt it. However, they are paying attention to what is a legit race part and what is being sold "for off-road use only". If the sales numbers of a part are way too high for realistic race-only use, or if they're advertised to do non-race things (ie, a tuner that claims improved fuel economy), or they're seeing social media that indicates they're being used on the road, that will throw a red flag.
The RPM act was not specifically discussed.
Note to vendors who didn't bother to attend the seminars: simply having customers check a "for race use" box at checkout is not sufficient. It was suggested that race parts should not be freely sold to the public at large, some sort of real verification is required.
Basically, anything that can affect emissions is considered illegal unless the manufacturer/vendor can prove otherwise. The slam-dunk way to do this is get a CARB EO. This is true nation-wide, not just for CA.
As for CARB, they are looking to streamline the process of getting an EO - mostly making current best practices required to cut down on processing time. A consistent format for emissions test data, full instructions, part numbers, etc. They want more specific EO applications, limited to a specific engine and fuel type, which gets rid of the sprawling universal EO applications they get now. Those chew up a lot of time. They're also creating different types of applications for different types of parts - air intakes require less testing than turbochargers, for example, so they get different applications now. This is good, as the process is pretty clogged up right now. They are asking for feedback from the industry at the moment, which was the purpose of one of the sessions I attended.
Funny note: intercooler upgrades were referred to as "cosmetic only" multiple times :)
CARB is also looking to recoup some of its costs, too. Currently, EOs are free (testing is not) but they spend on average $16,000 worth of staff time on each application. Biggest problem is those sprawling universal ones. The fee structure has not yet been set, but expect EOs (and thus parts with EOs) to get more expensive in a couple of years.
There was also some discussion (a bit confused) about how to ensure that EO'd products do not get modified. For example, that someone doesn't buy a Flyin' Miata BBR turbo kit and then put in a tune from some random tuner. This is actually a hard technical problem, but expect to see it starting to happen if they can figure out how.
There were a few people in attendance who were actively hostile to this process. They will lose. Most people in the various sessions are the ones who are trying to make it work. Some of the sessions were invitation only, and had folks from all the big names - Edelbrock, Borla, Bully Dog, HPT, FM etc. Most of the aftermarket is a small group of people, really, and those people are trying to work with the EPA and CARB.
Flyin' Miata is apparently going to be forging some new trails with some of our proposals underway. Like I said, it's a small group and the approach we're looking at hasn't been tried or even suggested by anyone. It won't be easy - converters were referred to as "advanced technology" at one point, which is pretty entertaining to someone who has been neck-deep in CAN work for a couple of years - but if we can make it work it may open some good options for cars that are currently 15-25 years old.
TL:DR - expect to see parts without EOs disappear from the market. Expect to see parts with EOs get a little more expensive. Expect to see some sort of check that EO'd parts are not modified post-sale, specifically software. Expect to see a much more concerted effort from vendors to ensure that race-only parts will only get put on actual full time race cars.
) could certify that the new system is easily better than the old one. Requirements, Pre-96, are pretty straightforward, and if you are already doing emissions testing, then it's not a stretch at all to EO an entire package that is better than the previous one- let alone one that meets the EO requirements. Thinking about it, just one simple piece of control needs to be added to MS, and that is for purge/evap control.
