Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 31

Sunday, December 11, 1994 The Arizona Republic A33 SMOG-CHECK CHANGES New auto-emissions tests will take effect Jan. 3. Auto testiit Valley' TV twist puts Fox on "Channel 10 tougher itog and costlier CURRENT TESTING Type of test: Model years 1967-80, idle test. Model years 1981 and later, "loaded" test (measuring auto at idle and while running). Tampering: Visual check of 1974 and later models.

Pollutants checked: Hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide. Cost $5.85 a year. Waiver limits: 1967-74: $50 1975-79: $200 1980 and newer: $300 NEW TESTING Type of test: Model years 1967-80, "loaded" test. Model years 1981 and later, IM 240 test, (measuring auto under variety of driving conditions) and purgepressure test to check emission-control system. Tampering: Expanded visual check of 1 974-80 models.

None for vehicles having IM 240 test. Pollutants checked: Same, plus nitrogen oxide in IM 240 test. Cost $20 for IM 240, required every two years. $10 for annual "loaded" tests. Waiver limits: 1967-74: $100 1975-79: $300 1980 and newer: $450 Have a question about the latest TV-affiliate ILzZ-A cwitrh? Wnndnrina whtfeyour favorite shows will end up? Call PRESSLINE at 271-5656 and press 2487.

Your questions will be answered later this week In The Arizona Republic. 'Pries of 1995 tests (or 1996 IM 240 test for vehicles that aren't tested In 1995) will be reduced by $3.25 from money won In settlement of gasoline price-fixing case. Source: Arizona Department of Environmental Quality VALLEY TV, from page A32 the countdown to "ABC Day" on Jan. 9. During its networkless interim, the station will fill prime time with its own slate of old movies.

Star Trek: The Next Generation will remain in its 9 p.m. slot until ABC arrives, at which time the syndicated sci-fi series beams its way to Channel 3. Brad Nilsen, Channel 15's general manager, said the station plans a promotional push tied to ABC's arrival, but will delay its start-up until a few days before the network moves. The idea: Don't confuse viewers with programming changes until you absolutely have to. Channel 15 will also use the interim period to promote and polish its still-expanding local news operation.

The station debuted its first-ever newscast Aug. 1, has since added another half-hour of news at 6 p.m. and on Monday will launch a newscast at 5 p.m. A midday newscast is scheduled for start-up Jan. 3.

"We know that ABC is going to deliver truckloads of people," said Bob Rowe, a Scripps Howard news executive who was named station manager at Channel 15 in September. "The truth is, at that point they're only ours to lose. "We're trying to gear everything so that we are ready by January 9 (to) show these people, 'Here's why you should stay with and to have a product that they'll want to stay for." Finally, there is this complicating factor for confused or soon-to-be-confused viewers: In an attempt to establish its own local or syndicated product in key time slots, future independent Channel 3 has allowed several pieces of ABC programming to leave early for Channel 15. Good Morning America and ABC News This Morning have aired on Channel 15 since late summer. Channel 3 airs First News and Good Morping Arizona in their places.

Starting Monday, World News Tonight, ABC's top-rated 5:30 p.m. newscast, anchored by Peter Jennings, and Nightline, Ted Koppel's late- pay it only every other year. Owners' of '67-80 models will pay $10. During the first year of IM 240 testing, however, everyone will get a $3.25 reduction, thanks to money from a settlement of gasoline price-fixing charges. Both tests will catch a lot more smog-belching autos.

Twenty-eight percent of 1967-80 vehicles fail the current emissions test. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality expects that rate to jump to 40 to 45 percent for those models. The change will be even more dramatic for newer vehicles. The current failure rate is 6 percent of models from 1981 and later. IM 240 is expected to flunk three to four times as many.

You're likely to spend more on repairing your auto so it will pass when it's retested. Now, the average emissions repair is $83 for 1981 and newer tars. Under IM 240, it's, projected to be $120. Repair-shop owners say many customers will face much higher bills than that: $200 to $450 to replace a catalytic converter, or $200 to $250 to overhaul a carburetor. Waiver limits to rise And you'll have to spend more money before qualifying for a waiver, the exemption you get after spending a certain amount to repair an auto that fails emissions testing.

The waiver limit was raised to $100 from $50 for 1967-74 models; to $300 from $200 for 1975-79 vehicles; and to $450 from $300 for 1980 and newer vehicles. At Car-Go, "we're going to have a lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth," Gillespie said. Auto owners with low incomes, defined as those who qualify for food stamps, can get help from the state. They must pay for repairs up to half the waiver amount. The state will pay any additional cost, up to the waiver limit.

On the up side, drivers could find the repairs add two or three years to the life of their vehicles, said Dan Glauber, owner of Automotive AUTO TESTING from pae A -State Sen. Manuel "Lito" Pena, who opposes the new tests, predicts an outright revolt. ''People who are pushing this thing are going to be faced with a revolution," the south Phoenix' Democrat said. "There are going to be a lot of unhappy people." Here's a short course to bring you up to speed: Is your vehicle a 1966 model or older? You're off the hook. It will remain exempt from emissions testing.

Do you own a 1967 to 1980 vehicle? Yearly tests still will be required, but the car or truck no longer will be tested only at idle. It will have to pass a "loaded test," now required only for newer vehicles, in which it is put on a dynamometer, a kind of treadmill for cars, and tested while running at speed. Are you driving a 1981 model or newer? It will go through a new test known as IM 240. The name stands for "inspection and maintenance" and an average test length of 240 seconds. test is so stringent, the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency says, that vehicles need be checked only every other year. If the last digit of your Vehicle Identification Number is odd, you'll be tested in 1995. Otherwise, you'll wait until 1996. Trouble-shooter IM 240 is designed to trouble-shoot newer vehicles' computerized controls of the fuel mix and other functions that affect emissions. Those vary with speed, so IM 240 simulates a range of driving conditions.

vehicle will get a purge test to see that gasoline vapors are being recovered, and a pressure check to make sure hoses and fuel lines aren't cracked or leaking. There's also a new gas-cap test for all vehicles that get emissions testing. The cap is screwed into the end of a pressurized hose, and a flow meter checks whether it lets fumes escape. "The current test costs $5.85. To offset the cost of equipment, the fee for IM 240 tests will be $20.

But you night news and analysis show, will air on Channel 15. Channel 3 will air its own newscast in Jennings' slot and the syndicated Hard Copy in Koppel's. ABC's slate of Saturday-morning kids programs, including Sonic the Hedgehog and Reboot, moves to Channel 15 on Dec. 17. The next day, the Sunday edition of ABC's Good Morning America and This Week With David Brinkley make the same jump.

Confused? Well, take heart: Fall ratings for CBS prime-time programs mirrored ratings the same shows were getting at longtime affiliates in other markets. Meaning, most viewers quickly found their favorite CBS shows, despite the obstacle of punching a different number on their remote controls. Some of us, at least, have proven true the programming bromide, "People don't watch networks, they watch programs." On Monday, however, a second network shifts. Four weeks later comes the third shift. Do you know the difference between syndicated programming and network shows? Are you willing to hunt for your favorite local newscast, especially if it no longer follows your favorite prime-time drama? And is it true that the executives and newscasters at local stations have to pick up and move when their networks move? Said Channel 15's Nilsen, "(I know) a lot of bright people, attorney friends, who have asked, 'So when do you physically move over to Channel "I don't move to Channel 10.

They don't understand it." The Arizona Republic Friday, the EPA said it will be more flexible about whether states have to adopt IM 240 and how they do it. Pandemonium in Maine Only one state has tried IM 240 other than in pilot programs, and it backed off. Maine launched the tests in July, creating such pandemonium that the state has put them on hold. Some of the reasons were specific to Maine, and drivers there had never faced emissions testing before. But Roger Compagna, a service-station owner leading the fight against IM 240 in Maine, contends that the test itself is flawed.

One woman in Maine took a 1988 Ford to a mechanic three times and paid $800 in repair bills before passing, he said. Motorists spent hours waiting in line to be tested. An EPA audit, however, concluded that Maine's testing program only needed a tuneup. Arizona is taking several steps to avoid a fiasco such as Maine's. It's opening a new inspection station in the northeast Valley and adding lanes at three other stations.

And the DEQ is boosting staffing on its emissions hotline, 470-4646. Glauber of Automotive said he hopes the tough smog checks will ensure that his 5-year-old daughter grows up breathing clean air. "Driving into Phoenix from my folks' home down in Sierra Vista over Thanksgiving weekend, we could see the haze over the whole Valley," he said. "I would like that to leave." Repair in Phoenix. "I honestly think they'll be doing better for themselves and actually save money in the long run," he said.

Fixing a car to meet IM 240 standards will boost mileage an average of 13 percent, the EPA estimates. And repairing the evaporative system should improve mileage by an average of 6 percent. A larger issue David Eisinger, who manages Western air-quality issues for the EPA, points to a larger issue: "What people really need to stop and ask themselves is, do they value public health and clean air? Are they willing to make a very small sacrifice by having their car cleaned up and repaired so they can be part of the solution and not part of the problem?" The Valley has cut carbon-monoxide levels in half over the past decade, the Department of Environmental Quality says, thanks to oxygenated fuels during the winter, the emissions program and vehicles that pollute less. But it will take further cuts to meet federal standards. That's a challenge in a rapidly growing area, where autos are a major source of pollution.

Valley drivers log 58 million miles every weekday, and that figure is expected to double in 20 years. The Arizona Legislature adopted IM 240 after a consultant said it was the only way to attain federally required reductions in carbon monoxide and ozone-forming hydrocarbons. Other parts of the country, where pollution is more severe, had no choice. But many resisted, and on ALL MEN'S WINTER COATS WINTER JACKETS ALL MEN'S LADIES' ROBES MM ALL CHILDREN'S WARM-UP SUITS ALL MEN'S LADIES' WARM-UP SUITS ALL HANDBAGS ALL PICTURE FRAMES PHOTO ALBUMS MINI-BACKPACKS Starts Today ALL LADIES' NIGHTSHIRTS, NIGHTGOWNS PIS ALL BRAS PANTIES (INCLUDES SETS) Special Holiday Hours: Monday-Saturday, 9AM-10PM; Sunday, 10AM-6PM Over 500 T.j.Moxx stores coast to coast. Paradise Valley: Village Square, Cactus Road and Tatum Boulevard, across from Paradise Valley Mall Phoenix: Town and Country Shopping Center, 20th Street and Camelback Road North Mountain Village, 35th Avenue and Thundcrbird Avenue Mesa: Continental Fiesta Plaza, Southern Avenue and Longmore, opposite Fiesta Mall Scottsdale: Camelback Miller Plaza, Camelback Road and Miller Road Call 1 -800-2TJ-MAXX for location nearest you.

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