Re:
Joe:
I couldn't agree more. With the change in the political climate (pun intended) and the current "green" movement, the enforcement will be coming.
Not to delve into politics, but imagine what power will be restored to EPA if a Democrat gets back into the oval office. EPA hasn't had the money it has wanted to conduct enforcement because of the the current administration and it's focus elsewhere...
The smog technicians attend mandatory training which they pay for themselves (this is one means of the EPA having a lot of power)...
They have been trained too well, he looked my car over very thoroughly and said "did you have headers installed" (which I had just swapped out a few weeks prior)...
I had a long eye opening (for me) conversation with him... the EPA have been ramping up and now they are starting to achieve "critical mass".
And they are going after the manufacturers to make their PCM's secure.
Re:
Yeah, it was going to happen. Just didn't know when. Oh well, hopefully we will have a while longer. I just hate it for the guys who are trying to make a living doing this. All it takes is one person to say " well, I had so and so do this custom tune" and the EPA will take it from there..Originally Posted by joecar
They sort of are secure from prying eyes as is, however, based on some of the European makers are doing (Siemens TriCore ECM's), the future of tuning is looking a little worrying. The dumb part is, lets imagine they stop reflashing access and they epoxy the ECM PCB, Motec will be happy because just like Toyota's (who's ECM's can't be flashed) people will just use an aftermarket controller.
Cheers,
Ross
I no longer monitor the forum, please either post your question or create a support ticket.
Funny thing is that you don't own your PCM... GM has all the rights to it, or at least it appears that way.
They could go as far as starting to add something like a WIBU key that each dealer needs to have that would be PART of the car's total encrption scheme and just encode it so tight that no one can decypt it without the key and only dealers would be able to get them (like a lease) from GM.
We use at work software WIBU keys (wibu.com) that are on internal servers and if you aren't on the inside you can't access it directly. Would put a SERIOUS damper on things. So if you must travel, you have to carry a parallel port WIBU key with you (or USB), or connect up whereyou can directly get to the internal servers.
Probably going to be like the "old days" on the LT1 where people ditched the 96-97 LT1 OBD2 PCMs and did an OBD1 conversion and did away with it.... But that won't last for long. They'll put stops in there for that too eventually.
There needs to be a point where the EPA's value-add to the environment is weighted against the monetary cost of operating. At this point, with the voluntary green movement that so many people appear to be adopting, it is driving auto manufacturers to trend that way as well, without a necessary need for govenment intervention. With that happening, it really seems that spending literally billions of dollars to tar and feather what amounts to much less than 1% of the population is absurd.
The automotive industry has done more than it's fair share of pollution control in the past 30 years. It's time for a break, go after somebody else.
Re:
These (the fines) are already in place. The fines are real, they just haven't been enforced. When the Federal Government starts offering rewards to whomever turns someone in, you can bet they will be writing out the checks. All it takes is one unhappy customer, and one phone call. The rest will happen by itself. The wheels are in motion....
For example, there was a guy on this forum a while back that had a tune done, and was raising sand about it. You don't think he wouldn't take the first opportunity he had to "get even", oh, and by the way, get a check from the Fed's in return for his "effort"?
We all know it is illegal to remove "cats", but some people do it. You won't find a muffler shop that will remove "cats" for fear of the huge fine, of course, unless it's your buddy.
If you do something illegal, you will eventually get caught. No way around it. Just be prepared to pay the piper when it happens. Just like speeding, we all know it's wrong, but everyone does it. It's rotten luck to get the ticket, but when we do, we accept it and move on.
This won't be much different. The fines will be larger and hurt a lot more, and you will need to take your vehicle back to a non-modified state for ON-Road use.
The Smog Techs are real, are being trained, and it's underway. Just be ready....
Here's the Perfect Example
If you think the lawsuits won't happen once the rewards are offered, just read this article from the Wall Street Journal. This guy was making a living doing this...............
==================================
http://online.wsj.com/public/article..._20061014.html
"Online Retailer Skips Sales Tax? You Might Sue
By ROBERT GUY MATTHEWS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
October 14, 2005
CHICAGO -- Like many shoppers, attorney Stephen Diamond buys lots of stuff online. But unlike other consumers, he sues retailers that don't charge him state and local sales taxes -- and is making a profit doing it.
Using a state whistle-blower law, Mr. Diamond since 2002 has filed about 95 suits in Cook County court here against retailers that failed to charge him taxes on Internet sales, alleging that they broke the law. In cases where the state of Illinois joins the suits and prevails, he is entitled to up to 25% of the financial damages, with the rest going to state coffers.
Mr. Diamond's first eight suits were filed against such retailers as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Office Depot Inc. and KB Toys Inc. He has netted about a half-million dollars already, from some retailers. Because of settlement agreements between the retailers and the attorney general's office, the state's judges have agreed to keep the names of most of the retailers and the settlement amounts confidential. More than 80 suits are pending in Illinois, and Mr. Diamond has made forays into other states as well.
"This is a no-brainer," says Mr. Diamond, a veteran class-action attorney who has a scenic view of Lake Michigan from his downtown office. "I started going on the Internet and discovered to my astonishment that companies like Target Corp. and Wal-Mart were not collecting taxes on their Internet sales. I was like, "Wow!"
Online buyers are required to pay local and state sales taxes on purchases made over the Internet, but are rarely asked to do so. States and online retailers have argued for years over whether the retailers should and could collect the taxes, but now states are becoming increasingly aggressive. This month, 18 states formed a coalition to make it easier to collect taxes on Web sales."
Yep that verifies the level of life of attorneys.
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