Not quite right. Texas DOES have emissions testing requirements, but
they are currently limited to certain "high-pollution" areas. For
example, Harris County, which encompasses Houston, is considered one of
those areas. Because I live in Harris County, I pay $24 for a
safety/emissions inspection. The law is not as restrictive as
California. They don't seem to care what it looks like under the hood,
as long as what comes out of the tail pipe meets the requirements. As
for the accuracy of the equipment and the failure rate... so far I
haven't heard anyone complain about failing, so I wonder how much leeway
is there. Cars over 25 years old are exempt. I don't know if Austin is
one of those areas that require emissions testing. I'm pretty sure
Dallas and San Antonio do. Ironically, if I moved ten miles west and
commuted a little further into Houston, I would be exempt from testing.
The $11 safety inspection is required of everyone and includes checking
all the lights, horns, etc. If you register your car as a classic
vehicle (with annual restrictions on mileage, driving only in club
events, etc.) you don't have to get the annual inspection and you only
have to pay registration (much reduced) every five years.
HOWEVER, if you are bringing a car into the state and wish to change to a
Texas title (which you have to do to register it) you will have to get
the safety inspection REGARDLESS of whether you want to register it as a
classic vehicle. I discovered this little hitch in the law when
registering my MGA two years ago.
Don't even think of going to the DMV without the inspection slip, your
proof of insurance, and your title. Otherwise you'll take several trips.
I know by experience.
David Littlefield
Houston, TX
On Wed, 27 Aug 1997 07:23:20 -0500 "JedPiper" <JedPiper@earthlink.net>
writes:
>John -
>
>Texas currently does not have emmissions standards in place. Your car
>will
>however be subject to a mechanical and safety inspection (brakes,
>lights,
>horn, etc.), I run a Weber DGV on my 76B with no catalytic converter
>or
>emmissions equipment other than the charcoal canister, and just passed
>inspection in June.
>A Texas state inspection costs $11.00, will take about 10 min. of your
>time
>and can be performed at almost any quick/jiffy lube joint or auto
>garage.
>
>Good Luck.
>
>Jed
>Cibolo, TX
>----------
>> From: John Steczkowski <stecz@pswtech.com>
>> To: MG Mailing List <mgs@autox.team.net>
>> Subject: texas emmissions laws
>> Date: Tuesday, August 26, 1997 8:59 PM
>>
>> Does anyone know how emmissions laws work in Texas? My understanding
>is
>> that they become exempt from emmissions testing after 25 years, does
>> that mean the visual inspection also (all I need at my location)?
>>
>> Basically after 25 years, can I go to dual webers, header, etc and
>still
>> be emmissions "legal"? i.e. it will pass the inspection.
>>
>> --
>> John Steczkowski
>> PSW Technologies, Inc.
>> 512-343-6666
>> stecz@pswtech.com
>> http://www.pswtech.com/~stecz
>> http://www.pswtech.com O-
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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