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Petition aims to scrap Drive Clean

The province’s new Drive Clean test is expensive and unnecessary and the Conservative party wants it scrapped.

“The Liberals have refused to seriously address costly technical flaws with their new computerized emissions test and have instead opted to force Ontarians to foot the bill, said Todd Smith, Prince Edward-Hastings MPP in support of colleague Michael Harris, PC Environment Critic.

“The Auditor General specifically warned the Liberals last year to delay the implementation of their emissions test in order to ensure that all technical problems were resolved,” said Smith. “Now, Ontarians are paying the price for the Liberals’ politically motivated move to introduce a test that’s less reliable and more prone to error.”

Up until the new Drive Clean test this year, 95 per cent of vehicles met the program’s requirements.

“Such a high pass rate indicates that improvements in technology and fuel efficiency standards have rendered the Drive Clean program redundant,” said Harris. “That’s why the Auditor General questioned the overall effectiveness of emissions testing in his report last year.  Instead of acknowledging advances in technology, the Liberal government forged ahead with their new emissions test in a cynical attempt to raise the failure rate and justify what has obviously become a useless program.”

The previous tailpipe test, considered a true measure of emissions, was replaced with a computerized test that scans the on-board diagnostics systems in vehicles. Harris said countless vehicles fail this new test every day – not because of emissions-related problems – but because of a computer error.

“Rather than address these technical issues, the Liberals have told Ontarians to spend their valuable time and money driving on highways and around town in the hopes their vehicle’s on-board computer will correct itself for the next test,” Harris said, noting unwarranted financial hardship and stress the ‘false fails’ have on drivers and car dealers, who are required to get an emissions test every time they sell a vehicle no matter how old it is”

Smith encourages Ontarians to voice their opposition to by signing the online petition at ScrapDriveClean.ca

Filed Under: Local News

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  1. Jack says:

    @Paul. Have your check engine light reset. Drive it about 30 kilometers and if your check engine light is not on. Have it scanned for ” not ready”. If the only “not ready” is the evap system. You pass.

  2. Paul says:

    Consider this.

    In an effort to have some influence on the general publics willingness to purchase a new car ( and give the auto industry a much needed boost ) the Government implemented Drive clean ( the manufactures added an engine light as instructed ). It was a tax grab and has now come to the end of its life.

    Manufactures were charged with developing vehicles that meet Government standards and did so.

    What the Government is doing now is grabbing as much as they can before this comes to an end.

    Has our Government lost its ability to create constructive ways to create revenue, this is one of the main reason they are elected is it not!

    My car is in perfect condition and meets emissions requirements and regulations. Runs like new and only has 120,000 km I have never had an issue that is until I had the new emissions test preformed. I was told that my evaporative system had a problem even though my engine light was not on and there were no codes upon testing.

    It took 9 days and now my engine light is on and the code is P0440, the car still runs fine and still passes emissions requirements so shall we take a look at QNX. QNX Neutrino is widely used as the basis for automotive electromechanical components

    A large percentage of the cars on north American roads are computer controlled and can be manipulated ( QNX Neutrino is widely used as the basis for automotive electromechanical components As a microkernel-based OS, QNX is based on the idea of running most of the OS in the form of a number of small tasks, known as servers. This differs from the more traditional monolithic kernel, in which the operating system is a single very large program composed of a huge number of “parts” with special abilities. In the case of QNX, the use of a microkernel allows users (developers) to turn off any functionality they do not require without having to change the OS itself; instead, those servers are simply not run.)

    I believe I have shed some light on this obvious manipulation, I’ll remember this the next time i vote, WILL YOU!

    The Liberals are currently responsbile for this.

  3. John says:

    We cant complain…the GTA keeps voting in the red menace. When the economy drops through the floor and “new car” sales tank , maybe someone at Queens Park will take notice.

    P.S.

    The Liberals had to have a way to try and re-coup some of the wasted funds spent on the cancellation of the two gas fired generation plants. (638 million has to come from somewhere..cmon Ontarians….buy in too more Liberal magic !!!!.)

  4. Ken Globe says:

    One problem Gary would be some people would start lying where there vehicle is garaged. You could have people living in the city keeping the car registered to a parents house in rural areas to get by the tougher emissions standards. It’s a major problem for insurance companies. People lie about living in Georgetown because the insurance rates are way cheaper there than in Brampton.

  5. Gary Mooney says:

    This is another instance of the provincial government discriminating against rural Ontario, but only the southern area. While there is some rationale for emissions testing in the densely populated urban areas, there is little reason for concern in low-density rural areas. Why not give all rural areas a break?

  6. surinder says:

    ridiculous law. Up to poisonous gases test is OK but if you tried to grab the money from poor people’s pocket that is wrong and it should be stopped and we r with that party who stop this nonsense law.

  7. Jason Alford says:

    Just for factual accuracy, although the Drive Clean test was recently updated during the mandate of the provincial Liberal government, the original Drive Clean program was instigated by Mike Harris and the Conservatives in 1999. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario's_Drive_Clean )

    Friends and family have often asked me to check out their vehicles before they were e-tested and I would usually take their car into the shop for them. It has been my experience that if there was a failure detected by the on-board computer then the car would fail the emissions portion of the test with one or more of the gasses (CO, HC or NOx) being above the limit. However, the absence of a “Check Engine” warning did not necessarily indicate that a vehicle would pass.

    I have been through the new testing system and so far I have found that it is easier to get a vehicle to pass.

    Either way, one piece of advice that I offer to everybody is do not not wait until just before sticker renewal to have your vehicle e-tested. You can have it done any time up to a year prior to the required date and it will still be valid. That way, if it fails then you have plenty of time to decide whether to have the problem repaired or if it is time to replace the car.

  8. Larry Rose says:

    As noted by everyone..this IS a Tax grab instigated by a now defunct leader who got the hell out before he was kicked out..BUT,, he left a legacy..lol..payback is a Bitch..Dalton.I hope you pay for all this crap in the after-life.I intend on getting a vehicle that doesn’t require an E-test and fixing it up just to thwart the S.O.B.

  9. David Credicott says:

    So if my car is 20 years old i dont have to have an etest. I think the goverment is doing this all the wrong way. Most car makers now days make the cars and truck more fuel eff. and emission safer then cars of the past. But as people of today’s society who can’t afford to go out and buy a new car every 5 years have to hope that the car or truck we drive today can past the e test. But if you want 20 years you can drive your car and don’t have to worry about emission test just drive and pollute the earth. I think our government is just missed up and yes i agree i think a few good monkeys could run our country better.

  10. Harold Boomhower says:

    This is just anither tax on the motoring public in this part of Ontario. If you live 10 miles north of Bandcroft you do not require an E-Test “Hello” So why do we have to pay it???? 🙁

  11. Bruce Dickie says:

    This required test is just another reason why more and more reasonable people have totally lost faith in our government and figure we are being ruled by a mob of jack asses. As a licensed mechanic since 1971 I can say this new test is total crap. The new and old test both unfairly pick on the battlers who are doing their best to get by with an older car and couldn’t begin to afford a new one. It’s also a license to steal for crooked mechanics or garages. There should be no studies or humming or hawing by our ridiculous government. Cancel the emission test requirement immediatelty.

  12. Jack says:

    @Lyndsay, MOE has put some temporay requirements in place that your technician may or may not be aware of. If a vehicle fails a test because it is “not ready” it does not have to be tested over and over if (1) The vehicle is tested at least 24 hours after the first test (2) The vehicle has been driven at least 30 kilometers since the first test (3) The codes have not been cleared(4) The number of “not ready monitors” has not increased since the first test. If your vehicle meets those conditions and fails for “not being ready” it can now qualify for the old style test which it passed when you purchased your car.

  13. Lyndsay Richmond says:

    This is the year I had to have my 2002 Honda Civic e-tested. Due to the new system it failed. Not because of poor emissions but because there were lights lit up on the dash. These lights have been on since I purchased the car – a issue I determined shortly after I purchased – mice had chewed some of the wires. It has never had any problems except these lights. This obviously has nothing to do with emissions or the environment – just faulty wiring that causes a few lights to show up on the dash, to top it off the shop I took it to couldn’t determine how to fix it! Now I have a vehicle I can’t use and have to pay for someone else to figure out if they can fix the wires to turn the lights off so I can pass “an emissions test”!?
    Not necessary!!!

  14. Jack says:

    Having worked in the Automotive trade for over the last 40 years overseeing all repairs performed on new and old vehicles , without a doubt these latest changes to the clean air program have done nothing to improve our enviroment and are causing confusion within the trade and financial hardship for the consumers. Repairs are being performed that are not neccessary by ill informed technicians. It should be abolished or at the very least returned to prior Jan 1 requirements. The biggest offenders are grandfathered and do not have to be tested. Newer vehicles simply will not run well and most cases cannot be driven unless they are operating within specs. It is a huge tax grab for the people of Ontario that is not producing the results it was intended for and needs to go.

  15. Doris Lane says:

    A momey grab–it is of no value

  16. Mary Hunter says:

    Hello

    I have heard from a friend of mine that Mr. McGuinty put this new law in before he left without consulting anyone.
    My friend says the test is ridiculous and even a
    wiper that does not work at the back of the vehicle
    ends up in error messages and have to be fixed before
    your vehicle will pass. This is ridiculous and not all
    of us can afford another vehicle.

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