News & Publications - What's New
News Release Archive
Welcome to the AirCare news release archive. The AirCare program regularly sends press releases to keep our stakeholders, the media and the public up-to-date on general AirCare information.
Go back to the AirCare news release archive index.
AirCare Study Reveals Program Benefits
(Oct-07-2003)
The AirCare program has a simple mandate. Identify vehicles with excess emissions and require that they be repaired. Effective emission repairs reduce harmful vehicle-generated pollution and help to improve our region’s air quality. Since 1992, AirCare has proven to be a highly effective program. But just how are the program benefits determined?
AirCare regularly conducts detailed scientific reviews to assess overall program effectiveness and report on total reductions in vehicle emissions attributed to the program. The British Columbia AirCare program is considered by many to have the most in depth technical reviews in the inspection and maintenance industry. These reviews follow established scientific methodology and are fair appraisals of the program’s strengths and weaknesses.
The most recent report entitled “AirCare – Results and Observations in 2001 and 2002” clearly shows that the program continues to be highly effective at reducing light-duty vehicle emissions, the single largest source of regional air pollution. Here are some of the highlights from the 2001-2002 technical review:
INSPECTIONS
- AirCare inspected 748,068 light-duty vehicles in 2001 and 778,521 in 2002
- 84% of vehicles passed initial inspection
- 16% failed initial inspection
- 70% were correctly repaired and received a full pass on the re-test
- 10% were partially repaired and received a conditional pass
- 20% were “retired” from the fleet
Introduction of the enhanced inspection for 1992 and newer vehicles has had a dramatic effect on the failure rate for these vehicles. Prior to 2001, the failure rate for 1992 and newer vehicles was less than 3%. In 2002, the failure rate for 1992 and newer vehicles reached 9.6%. It is fair to conclude that this enhanced test is identifying excessively emitting vehicles that were not being identified by the previous test.
REPAIRS
Reductions in vehicle emissions cannot be achieved without effective repairs.
- There are currently about 1,300 AirCare Certified Repair Technicians
- There are about 430 AirCare Certified Repair Centres
- AirCare Certified Repair facilities handle about 30% of all vehicles that fail AirCare
- The average cost to repair a failed vehicle was $343 in 2001 and $377 in 2002.
BENEFITS
- In 2001 and 2002, AirCare data shows that Hydrocarbons (HC), Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) were reduced by 23,208 tonnes.
- In its first ten years (1992-2002) the AirCare program reduced total vehicle emissions by 35% for a total reduction of 731,790 tonnes of HC, CO and NOx.
To view this report, along with other reviews of the AirCare program, click here.
For more information, contact:
Rashpal Rai
Public Relations
Envirotest Canada, contractor for AirCare
Rashpal.Rai@bc.etest.com
Go back to the AirCare news release archive index.
