Environmental Progress - Spring 1999

Enhanced VIM Tests Kicked in on Feb. 1

Exhaust emissions are captured and analyzed for hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions as the car "drives" at simulated traffic speeds on a treadmill.

Representatives of St. Charles County, Mo., recently toured the Illinois vehicle emissions station at Collinsville. From left are Mike Duvall, St. Charles County government; Ken Maki, Environmental Citizens, St. Charles, Mo.; Charlie Ruth, Envirotest Inc., and Elizabeth Tracy, head of the Illinois VIM program. Missouri is establishing a centralized vehicle emissions test program, a field in which Illinois already has more than a decade of experience.

Enhanced vehicle emissions testing that began Feb. 1 will require more Illinois motorists in broader geographic areas of the state to take their cars for more sophisticated testing, with the goal of further reducing exhaust pollutants that contribute to health-related smog. The new test requires the vehicle to be driven on a treadmill simulating normal driving conditions.

The federal Clean Air Act requires testing in the metropolitan Chicago and the Metro-East St. Louis areas which currently fail to meet minimum standards for ozone. The tests will now be required in an additional 22 zip code areas in the Chicago region and another 16 zip codes in the Metro-East area.

In the first month of enhanced testing, more than 132,000 vehicles were tested and about 90 percent passed. The average wait in line at the stations was 10.5 minutes.

For greater motorist convenience, Chicago area stations will now be open on Mondays, additional stations have been opened in both areas, and a hotline is available to provide information on wait times at stations.

Test stations in the Chicago area operate from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. Metro-East stations open on varying weekdays from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

In northeastern Illinois, the mandatory testing areas now include all or parts of Cook, DuPage, Lake, McHenry, Kane, Will and Kendall counties. Testing in southwestern Illinois is required in parts of Madison, St. Clair and Monroe counties. The expanded geographic areas will result in a 5 percent increase in vehicles tested in the metropolitan Chicago area and a 120 percent increase in the Metro-East area. Motorists are notified by the Illinois EPA when their vehicles are due for testing, done at no charge to car owners.

Model year 1968 and newer vehicles are to be tested every two years starting with the fourth model year. However, 1968-1980 model year vehicles will continue using the current idle test, as will heavy duty truck, many four-wheel-drive, all-wheel-drive, and traction control vehicles. Vehicles older than the 1967 model year, farm vehicles, motorcycles, antique vehicles and show and ceremonial cars are exempt, as are diesel vehicles.