Many State and local agencies have implemented vehicle emissions I/M programs in the last few years. EPA began to audit these programs in federal fiscal year 1984. Results of the I/M audits indicate that (1) enforcement is a problem in some programs with sticker based enforcement; (2) low reported failure rates are a problem in many decentralized programs, especially government programs; (3) high waiver rates are a problem in some programs, both centralized, and decentralized; (4) analyzer quality assurance ranges from excellent in centralized, contractor programs to marginal in decentralized programs with manual analyzers and in some centralized government run programs; (5) data analyses are not being effectively used in most programs to monitor and improve program performance and the performance of individual inspection stations; (6) the quality of I/M repairs is a problem, to some extent, in every program audited. EPA believes that the resolution of these problems generally rests with each State/local I/M program developing an overall I/M quality assurance program to ensure that problems are identified and resolved in a timely manner.

"EPA-AA-TSS-I/M-85-09." "This paper was presented at 78th Annual Meeting and Exhibition of the Air Pollution Control Association in Detroit, Michigan, on June 18, 1985." Cover title.