Posted by Dave'02LT on July 10, 04 at 10:18:05:
Many of you already have to go through emmisions testing and many more will too soon since the EPA has targeted over 400 areas due to their "nonattainment" status. It has almost been standard practice for mechanics to clear trouble codes after making repairs, but this could open you up to stiffer tailpipe testing when a quick scan may have been all you needed to pass, had the codes been allowed to clear naturally.
Below is a quote from the article, with the link to the full article at the bottom.
"Since the new testing procedures went into effect, we've been seeing a lot of vehicles that have failed the test because one or more of the Readiness Monitors have reported "Not Ready" or "Incomplete." I understand there are many different time frames and special driving procedures that must be followed to get these monitors to report "Ready" so our customers can pass their emissions tests. Some of them involve some pretty bizarre sequences, like accelerating from 0 to 30, then coming to a complete stop."