I was just reading an article about the ECU law and it seems that only a small amount of cars might be affected by it. Road and Track spoke with SEMA director of emissions compliance Peter Treydte about it.
California's biennial smog check now includes a test to detect unapproved ECU software or aftermarket tuners. We spoke with a SEMA representative to find out what this means for your car.
www.roadandtrack.com
"So far in the two weeks that have transpired, we have seen zero instances of concern," Treydte told
R&T. "I really don’t think that this is problematic."
The SEMA executive explained that only a tiny number of California vehicles are likely to be in violation of the new rule. Treydte says BAR shared data with SEMA estimating that, out of the roughly one million vehicles that undergo smog testing each month, only around 150 to 300 cars are expected to fail due to an illegal ECU tune. For comparison, around 10,000 cars fail every month due to mechanical problems or other non-ECU issues. These estimates should be trustworthy: BAR has had the authority to run this program in California since 2013, and has been collecting data on the ECUs of cars being tested since 2015.
That data has shaped the rules that are now being implemented. Treydte says the data BAR has collected can tell the agency how many vehicles are factory-tuned (i.e., with a post-purchase computer update) and which are running aftermarket software or computer hardware. "They know which of those aftermarket modifications are legal, associated with a CARB Executive Order," he said. "They already have that information. What’s happened here as of July 19 is simply an implementation of a failure condition during smog check based on some of that data they read from an ECU."
