Georgia emissions testing (boooo!)

I live in the metro Atlanta area of Georgia, where emissions testing is mandatory for 2005 and older cars. My 2005 Prius is up for inspection this month, for the first time.

I had read articles about the horror stories 2004 Prius owners had last year. Apparently, the GA emissions testing software doesn't do right with the Prius. The cars fail the test!

I had hoped they had worked out the kinks in the past year, but that doesn't yet appear to be true. The story I'm getting from the GA Clean Air Force is that they have a procedure they've sent to the emissions test sites for how to get the Prius to pass. The bad news is that in the field, the test sites still can't get the cars to pass.

I've been to three sites so far, none of which will test my car. I called the GA Clean Air Force twice so far, and they tell me I need to force them to test my car and if they won't, then I should file a complaint about the location with the GA Clean Air Force. They also recommended that I tell the testers at the test site to call the customer service number for the GA Clean Air Force (presumably so they can enforce that my car be tested).

I'll give it my best shot, but I fear this is about to get ugly.

For the record, I don't blame the test sites. They are given inadequate testing software, told that they must perform the test which proves to fail more often than not, and then reprimanded for not testing properly when the test fails.

 

Update: So I found a site that would test my emissions. Trouble is, my 2005 Prius failed!

The reports I've read are that the testing problems in GA lead to an aborted test, which is equivalent to failing in the eyes of the GA Clean Air Force. But my case appears to be different. My 2005 Prius failed outright according to the test. The reason for failure was that my CO+CO2% emissions were too high. Specifically, when conducting the idle RPM test my numbers were:

HC-ppm: 018
RPM: 0731
CO%: 0.04
CO+CO2%: 14.8
Result: FAIL (due to CO+CO2%)

I understand that by having a PZEV that I have a 15 yr/150,000 mi warranty on the emissions. So, I can go to the Toyota dealer to get things checked out. My hesitation is that I think the test is crap.

I'd rather take it to get tested again to see how I fare in another test. I've read some things about running the car on the highway pretty good just prior to the test and getting oil changed and verifying spark plugs. Do these things apply to my Prius I wonder? I change the oil regularly, and I've only got 16.5k miles on this car. The thing runs perfectly.

I've left messages with the GA Clean Air Force about next steps, but I don't have confidence in that route either.

 

Update #3: Georgia emissions testing (boooo!)

I took my car to the same emissions station for the free re-test, as allowed under Georgia law (I know I'm a glutton for punishment). Long story short, I failed again with almost exactly the same readings.

I have several next steps, which I hope will yield some positive results:
* My local dealer will inspect the car for potential emissions problems. As some have noted in posts to this thread, the PZEV certification from Toyota comes with warranty coverage for emissions. I'm not going to go into detail here since I might misquote, but I'm relatively sure that I won't pay out of pocket a penny for this dealer inspection. Trouble is that the dealers don't have this GA emission testing equipment. Dealers don't participate in GA emission testing. So, I can envision a case where my dealer tells me the car is fine, but it continues to fail the test. So...

* I've got a support case open with the GA Clean Air Force. The likely outcome is that they will send a tech to meet me at a location to 'referee' the test. This is my opportunity to show them that their testing workaround doesn't work, or it is too complicated to follow.

* Friends and colleagues are urging me to go public with this through various channels (local politics, local news, consumer advocate, etc.). I'm not ready for all that yet. I'm lending my support proactively so that maybe this can be solved for others. If it doesn't get results that route, then I can be persuaded to turn this thing ugly...

Thanks to the encouraging posts on this thread. Thanks especially to the The Tramp, who gave me his readings. I find it very revealing that we have similar numbers, and yes, you too would fail the test. Phooey.

 

That's a great link. I took that with me to the emissions station the first time. Funny story about that. I arrived at the testing center with my piece of paper and these steps. The conversation went like this:
Guy: "Prius eh? I'll test it, but it probably won't pass"
Me: "I heard that the test aborts because the car won't idle. I printed this paper from a website about how you can maintain an idle"...<interrupted>
Guy: "Has to do with blasting the A/C, right?"
Me: "No. It's a series of steps to put the car in a mode where it will continue to idle"...<interrupted>
Guy: "Yeah, I know. We've got those same steps as our workaround. The problem is that the car will only idle for 45 seconds using these steps, and the test takes longer than that usually."
Me: "Uhhh, I don't know what steps you have, but mine I printed from the internet. There is no 45 second limit to my steps"...<interrupted>
Guy: "Like I said, I'll test it. Please wait inside sir."

Of course my car has failed twice now. The morale of the story is that guys that work on cars aren't always very receptive to the customer about how to do their job.

I asked the guy if he has this problem with other Priuses.

Guy: "Actually, this is the first Prius I've ever successfully tested."
Me: "So usually the test aborts?"
Guy: "That's correct."
Me: "I'm not so sure I like the word successful here."

Both times when I left the station after the test, the A/C had been played with during the test.