americaniron

I read the article, and have been interested in the SEMA efforts for years. You are right about the dangers of (state, and federal) governments lack of understanding of our auto hobby. If anyone really followed some of legislation has tried to go through, then they would understand. Some STATES are considering banning any forced induction power adders that did not come from the factory. HID headlights are another story. The federal government, and not the states mandate those laws. Some states, and the feds want to ban all aftermarket HIDs even if they comply with the federal law. So if your car didn't come with it, then sorry. In fact it is the states that are the biggest threat to our hobby.

When the Roush front facia first came out for the s197 it was illegal to use in the state of Virginia. (no more than four lights on the front of a vehicule) Jack Roush, and SEMA petitioned the state to change the law, as long as only four lights were used at a time.

As far as one poster mentioning that people must vote for state inspections, well that's just completely wrong. State inspections are thrown down peoples throats as a form of raising revenue plain and simple. I have been around for some time, and never had the luxury to vote on that. Many of the inspections that came about in the states that I lived in, was done without the voters personaly deciding on it.

Bottom line is the article that the op mentioned is a good one to be aware of. It talks of a few items of concern NO MATTER WHAT STATE you live in. The possible government mandate for tire manufacturers is one of them.

MstngShelbyGT07

These proposed legislation's have been going on since the early 70's. Hopefully there will be some level headed leadership in Congress and our State Representatives... the thought of driving with high mileage tires that don't stick scares me though, lol. Could open a whole new safety issue!!! (but then they will just ban muscle and sports cars in safety's sake).

LinkWilliams

Im taking mine to emissions tomorrow (Maryland) yikes !!!! im going to leave the tune in and see what happens

JIM5.0

Texas was more or less "coerced" into passing state emissions testing for certain counties because of Federal EPA laws. How the Feds basically dictated that certain parts of Texas must do emissions testing is by threatening to cut Federal highway funds if Texas did not clean up the air some.

No, the Feds does not have power over what people do to their cars, but they do make the states pass emissions testing laws by threatening to cut Federal money to states for highway maintenance and building expenses.
And considering that every state has Federal highways in them that the states receive Federal money to build and fix, the Feds in this case do have a real effect on what people can do to their cars, even without a direct Federal law that restricts such things.

JIM5.0

LOL, I never really meant an implication that a GT500 hybrid must have alot of batteries, Just a couple of battery packs to run the traction motors for like 5 minutes! Not a whole bank of batteries to run the wheels for up to 30min, just enough to give that massive instantaneous torque at the line for a great take-off.

Actually, my version of such a hybrid would be totally devoid of batteries, well, except for a single traditional car battery to start the car. What I envision is like how train locomotives are set-up (diesel locomotives were hybrids the very first day they replaced steam locomotives). The 5.4L would be mated to an alternator, a massive one, not the puny accessories alternator that every car has. The 5.4L runs all the time, it never turns off, ever. The alternator it turns generates electric power which in turn powers the traction motors.

JIM5.0

And this is where current hybrids are utter FAIL. Not going AC is stupid. With proper computer controls, AC powered traction motors are superior to DC powered ones. The traction curves are just superior. And electrical usage is more effective, as well as overall, more efficient.

The train industry has learned that hard lesson nearly 20 years ago. Every long-haul locomotive on the tracks today are all AC powered. The only DC locos are obsolete, and thus are delegated crap duty in rail yards as what are called "yard goats."

JIM5.0

It's actually funny because horses fart, and they fart alot. Their emissions are sure to have an impact on your carbon footprint too. Nothing absolutely green about horses. And to grow the feed grain for horses, you would need even more horses to pull plows, pull planter wagons, pull harvester wagons, and wagon-trailers to deliver the feed to feed stores that will replace gas stations. The carbon foot print for a single horse will also be significant.

Also, I foresee an emissions testing where you plug a hose into the horse's but, and if he farts too much, you horse does not get the emissions approval! What if your horse is sick? You don't go to an expensive shop to fix him, you take him to an even more expensive vetenarian!

And if you have a stagecoach wagon, that takes a team of anywhere from 4 to 8 horses.
For an 8 horse carriage, how would emissions be considered if all 8 of them are sick because on horse sneezed and passed his germs to his fellow stable mates?

ROFLMAO!

LinkWilliams

In the state of Maryland, a few years back the government spent billions to have all emission stations equipped with treadmills for what they called a im 240 test. Guess what....... they installed them, used them a few times and destroyed peoples cars using them because the kids working there didnt know how to drive i guess. So now we dont use them anymore. They plug in a connector to the DLC port of your car and check for codes and make sure your monitors have run and send you on your way.... What a huge waste of money to install treadmills in every staton!!!

LostBoyz

They also use synchronous machines using 3 phase power, not exactly something you can achieve in something the size of a car.

JIM5.0

Yeah, the car treadmill was never put into any emissions counties in Texas. They are prohibitively expensive and too complex for your joe-blow kid to run when inspecting your car. You'd be best to have a trained and experienced dyno-tuner running such an expensive emissions equipment.

Yes, the traditional emissions testing equipment Texas bought was expensive, but not anything near your state spent for all of yours! I wonder if MD tax payers got some sort of a refund for that poor decision?