I just read an interesting editorial on Wards.com.

http://wardsauto.com/commentary/dies...better_091228/

Towards the end of the piece, there is a comment about new CARB emission regulations effectively outlawing diesel vehicles again by 2014. This makes GM's decision to shelve their V8 diesel look a lot smarter. What sense would it make to spend $$$ to launch a new engine that would soon be too dirty to sell?

Given the number of states that follow CARB emission standards, it doesn't make sense to introduce diesels for the rest of the country.

It looks like we have a gasoline or electric future in the U.S. (I wonder what Canada will do?).

 

A little more in a Wards article on a Subaru....

http://wardsauto.com/ar/legacy_outback_diesel_091228/


Even with expensive after treatment, diesels barely meet the easiest standard currently, while gasoline engines can easily clean up a lot more. It looks like California is mandating another 70% cut to the easiest standard, which will be no problem for gasoline engines, though I would expect a bit more exhaust backpressure for performance models, as many California SULEV models lose a few HP from the federal models.

 

That is just stupid.

 

Yup, very stupid...

 

Come on guys, the California state government will be bankrupt before 2014 so what's the big deal?

 

I was hoping that CARB would be cut in the current California budget crisis, but that's too much to hope for.

 

If you think that'll stop them, you're wrong

I predict that as long as the threat of this regulation hangs over auto manufacturers' heads, there will be no more passenger vehicle diesels engineered for the U.S.

 

More brilliance from California, what a shock...

 

Someone has been successfully lobbying...

 

I wish car makers would just say screw CA. Then when people there couldn't get the car they want, they'd do something about the idiotic government they've elected.

 

Remember the Bush Admin loved fuel cells and backburnered electric vehicles. Now the reverse has happened.

 

Remember that New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, and a couple of other states have adopted California standards. And also remember how the car companies argued for a single national fuel economy standard.

It's just too much trouble to engineer, market, and support a variant that can only be sold in 1/2 the country. Plus, the federal standards often end up following California standards. Tier2 Bin5 is essentially the same as CA-LEV2.

 

The CARB is long overdue for a major overhaul. It today's local paper there's an article on how local independent truckers at the Port of Oakland are suing CARB and the State over a mandated new law that goes into effect tomorrow that will prevent them from working. (Diesel trucks manufactured prior two 1994 will no longer be allowed to enter the port and all others need to be outfitted with a new filter that costs about $20K.) It seems when CARB passed this new mandate they intended to have a grant fund that truckers could apply for to aid them in buying new trucks or having their old trucks retrofitted with new filters but never bothered to see if the State had the money to hand out. Its typical of the way CARB has been acting in recent years. They're typically behind the 8-ball on merging technologies but impose over the top laws without considering the fiscal responsibility of aiding those most impacted by them... consumers and small business owners. They make it sound like they're going after the automotive manufacturers, yet they're actually the ones least impacted financially by such legislation.

CARB is just like any other State agency in California today. They're trying to justify their existence and fight for any scrap of funding they can get to survive. The recession is finally starting to set in and a lot of dead weight that has been able to skate by for years is finally being called into check and people are getting nervous. Just wait... while the rest of the country begins to recover from the recession, California will be about 12-18 months behind... our State agencies will be even further back. However those of you who are quick to condemn all Californians, keep in mind that the majority of us are just as fed up with the misguided and mismanaged actions of our government agencies as you are, and in most cases, even more so.

 

CARB is just another un-funded government mandate- We (big government) will tell you how to run your business, and, if you want to business here you will obey. Never mind that it will cost the users and consumers thou$ands of dollars- that cost can be handed down to the end users- It is just a form of government taxation, where the government forces businesses to do their dirty work-

 

Yes a single national fuel economy/emission standard would be nice, but we have idiots like those in CA that think they should make it harder on everyone else and they everyone should pick up thier rules. It's bull****. They make these rules without considering the true costs, etc. and just **** everyone over and no one does **** about it in CA because "it's green".