No apologies to Chris Carraba and his brand of tatted up, beach-bro wuss rock for the above, by the way. Officials in Oregon have decided to make life simpler for owners of '96-and-newer vehicles; for 39 bucks, they can buy a little dash-mounted box that plugs into the OBD II port and checks to see if all emissions-related components of the engine are performing as intended. The boxes then transmit a signal to the state, who then notifies the owner of a problem and gives said polluters 45 days to fix it.
Also on the slate: self-service smog kiosks where drivers insert a credit credit card and plug a cord into the car to check the emissions levels. The cost is the same as a regular smog check, but the kiosks will be open 24 hours, making for a bit more in the way of a convenience factor for motorists who tend to work during smog check stations' open hours. The old Dead Kennedys album title Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death comes to mind right about now.
Oregon cars to start tattling on emissions [The Olympian]
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