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Shocker: California to Start Checking for ECU Tunes During Smog.

odessa.filez

Autocross Newbie
Location
Roswell, GA
Car(s)
2016 GSW 1.8tsi auto
just move to FL and live among the other out-of-state refugees. No emissions tests either.
 

mr wrong

Drag Racing Champion
Location
Franklin TN
I'm surprised emissions testing is even still a thing considering how advanced engine management systems are today.
 

kevinkar

Drag Racing Champion
Location
United States
As someone who has lived in SoCal for almost 40 years I'll say I honestly don't care how tight California's rules are on emissions because the air was orange when I got here and painful to breathe. It's no longer that way, we rarely get any kind of meaningful smog alerts anymore, the sky is pretty much always clear and my current 2018 Golf R is way better than the car I drove 40 years ago. So I'm all for continued regulation to keep the air clean.

And if you can flash back to stock, get smogged and flash back to your everyday tune, what's the problem? Maybe the aftermarket parts don't work so well with the stock tune but get used to restoring the parts to OEM, get smogged, and reverse. I had several friends who, in the late 80s did this to their Mustangs and Camaros (Camaroes?) every year. A pain but they felt it was worth it.

If you don't like it, move to another state or get a car that's faster in stock configuration. My stock Golf R is every bit as fast in daily driving and sometimes moreso than my C6 Corvette was. No tune really necessary.
 

Chogokin

Autocross Champion
Location
So Cal
Car(s)
GTI Sport | Audi A3
As someone who has lived in SoCal for almost 40 years I'll say I honestly don't care how tight California's rules are on emissions because the air was orange when I got here and painful to breathe. It's no longer that way, we rarely get any kind of meaningful smog alerts anymore, the sky is pretty much always clear and my current 2018 Golf R is way better than the car I drove 40 years ago. So I'm all for continued regulation to keep the air clean.

And if you can flash back to stock, get smogged and flash back to your everyday tune, what's the problem? Maybe the aftermarket parts don't work so well with the stock tune but get used to restoring the parts to OEM, get smogged, and reverse. I had several friends who, in the late 80s did this to their Mustangs and Camaros (Camaroes?) every year. A pain but they felt it was worth it.

If you don't like it, move to another state or get a car that's faster in stock configuration. My stock Golf R is every bit as fast in daily driving and sometimes moreso than my C6 Corvette was. No tune really necessary.

I've also lived in So Cal (mostly in the San Fernando Valley) all my life. I remember back in the 80's...we'd have something called a "Smog Alert". Those are the days where there would be an orange haze around the city. We still have our bad days...but not nearly as bad as it was back then. I also have asthma...the cleaner the air...the better off I am.

My GTI is modded...but I think flashing my car back to stock every couple years isn't that much work. I don't have to smog till 2025. New CA cars do not have to smog for 8 years...so you got plenty of time to mod your car before you got to smog.

There are also parts of CA that do not require a smog check.

Also...how is the smog station going to check for a tune? The VW dealer can't even do that. The ECU data has to be sent to Germany to see if its been flashed. Is VW going to give the state the ability to check if the ECU has been flashed? That's how VW checks if the ECU has been modified.
 
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