Do automakers still make "49 state" emission legal vehicles?

Status
Not open for further replies.

yottabit

Golden Member
Jun 5, 2008
1,363
229
116
I was curious about this, since it seems all the new cars I can ever find lately are California-emissions legal

I remember in the 90's at least where I live it used to be there was the "49-state" version of a car and then the "California emissions legal" version which no one wanted because it had extra catalysts, etc on it and none of the repair shops around here would know what to do with it

Now however it seems every new car I look under the hood states they are emissions legal in all 50 states and comply with California Emissions Standards

From reading Wikipedia it seems in ~2009 Federal Emissions standards were raised to California levels? Is that true?

Or is it that automakers are just consolidating and making more cars to 50 state standards?

Or are those "not approved for california" new models still floating around out there, and what are they?

Just curious, couldn't seem to find this information with Google-fu
 

ND40oz

Golden Member
Jul 31, 2004
1,264
0
86
Things changed in 2007 IIRC when 4 other states started using the CARB standards and you have some 45 state emission legal vehicles, VW diesels of the time were in this group. In 2009 it went up to 14 states and most recently AZ also adopted the standards. In 2016 the EPA will have matched CARBs standards and CARB will collaborate on the standards for the rest of the US from 2017-2025 with the EPA.
 

yottabit

Golden Member
Jun 5, 2008
1,363
229
116
Things changed in 2007 IIRC when 4 other states started using the CARB standards and you have some 45 state emission legal vehicles, VW diesels of the time were in this group. In 2009 it went up to 14 states and most recently AZ also adopted the standards. In 2016 the EPA will have matched CARBs standards and CARB will collaborate on the standards for the rest of the US from 2017-2025 with the EPA.

As of now though, do you think there are any "35 state" new cars out there? Or did that practice end in 2009?
 

ND40oz

Golden Member
Jul 31, 2004
1,264
0
86
There may be some small manufacturers selling some, but nothing on a national level that I know of. The California car market is just so large, they're really able to dictate what the rest of the nation gets, especially now that other states are following their standards.
 

Throckmorton

Lifer
Aug 23, 2007
16,830
3
0
Wow, I didn't know about all these other states adopting the CARB requirements. Maybe Houston will be less smoggy in a few years now that all cars are 50 state legal
 

npaladin-2000

Senior member
May 11, 2012
450
3
76
There may be some small manufacturers selling some, but nothing on a national level that I know of. The California car market is just so large, they're really able to dictate what the rest of the nation gets, especially now that other states are following their standards.

Not to mention the fact that one of the "other" CARB states is NY. Not a small automotive market either.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.