^£DS7X
• JL v
I®/
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Inspector General
At a Glance
18-P-0283
September 25, 2018
Why We Did This Project
We conducted this audit to
determine whether the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA's) oversight has
ensured that vehicle inspection
and maintenance programs are
effective and efficient in
reducing vehicle emissions in
enhanced inspection and
maintenance areas.
Cars and light-duty trucks are
significant sources of pollutant
emissions to the nation's air.
Some of these pollutants
chemically react in sunlight to
form harmful ground-level
ozone. Vehicles that are
poorly maintained or have
malfunctioning emission
controls significantly contribute
to these pollutants. To address
this problem, the Clean Air Act
(CAA) made vehicle inspection
and maintenance programs
mandatory for areas where air
quality does not meet health-
based standards set by the
EPA. The CAA requires areas
with the most severe air quality
problems to implement more
stringent programs. As of
June 2018, 23 states run
these enhanced programs.
This report addresses the
following:
• Improving air quality.
Send all inquiries to our public
affairs office at (202) 566-2391
or visit www.epa.gov/oiq.
Listing of OIG reports.
Collecting Additional Performance Data from States
Would Help EPA Better Assess the Effectiveness of
Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Programs
What We Found
The EPA should collect additional program	Inspection and maintenance
performance data to better assess the	programs help improve air
effectiveness of enhanced inspection and	quality and protect human
maintenance programs for reducing vehicle	health by identifying
emissions. For example, nine states operating vehicles in need of repair,
enhanced programs did not conduct the required
biennial program evaluations to assess the effectiveness of their programs in
reducing vehicle emissions. Another four state programs did not conduct the
CAA-required on-road testing to obtain information about the performance of
in-use vehicles. For three states, a lack of clarity in the EPA's guidance on
program evaluation and on-road testing methodologies contributed to states'
failure to conduct required reviews and tests.
As a result of states failing to meet the program evaluation and/or on-road
testing requirements, the EPA lacks data to determine the effectiveness of their
enhanced vehicle inspection and maintenance programs. The EPA lowered the
National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone in 2015, which will require
states to further reduce emissions of ozone precursors. Knowing the
effectiveness of these programs in reducing emissions will be critical for states
as they plan how to comply with the new standard.
In addition, states are required to submit annual reports about the performance of
their vehicle inspection and maintenance programs to the EPA. The agency
strengthened its oversight of these annual reports since we issued our report on
the vehicle inspection and maintenance program in 2006. However, further
improvements should be made. For example, in our current audit, we found that
the EPA did not consistently communicate errors in reports back to states. Also,
three states continued to report a significant number of repair waivers for vehicles
that failed emission tests.
Recommendations and Planned Agency Corrective Actions
We recommend that the Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation take
actions to assure consistent and effective implementation of enhanced inspection
and maintenance programs; determine why states did not conduct mandated
on-road testing and assist these states, as necessary, to comply with statutory
requirements; and conduct outreach to states with deficiencies in program
implementation and issue guidance to address any common problems identified.
The EPA agreed with our recommendations and provided acceptable corrective
actions and completion dates.

-------