CAR SMOG CRACKDOWN\State will use remote sensors, ticket polluters.

Byline: Marni McEntee Daily News Staff Writer

As part of a plan to crack down on smog-belching autos, the state has placed remote sensors on freeway on-ramps to sniff out the cars most responsible for polluting the skies.

Although the state Bureau of Automotive Repair program is still in the test stages in Los Angeles County, officials hope to start taking down license plates - and ordering repairs - later this year, said Maria Chacon Kniestedt, a bureau spokeswoman.

The agency estimates that 15 percent of the state's vehicles create 50 percent of the vehicular smog. If those vehicles are repaired or removed, smog would be cut by an estimated 25 percent, Kniestedt said.

"If we can identify these vehicles and get them fixed then we can improve air quality significantly," she said.

The devices take measurements of a vehicle's emissions as it drives through an infrared beam projected across the freeway on-ramp. The data is transmitted to a computer inside a trailer that in turn measures the carbon monoxide in the exhaust.

A camera captures the car's license plate number on video, allowing officials to contact the motorist by mail if the car doesn't meet pollution standards.

The bureau has 10 devices in the state and four in Los Angeles County. The locations are changed each day.

In many cases, the trailer and orange cones on freeway on-ramps in Los Angeles have distracted drivers and caused traffic jams, said Artie Wu, Supervisor of the bureau's El Monte office.

Part of the problem has been that radio traffic reporters have alerted motorists that the "smog police" are on the lookout, Wu said.

The devices are part of the bureau's Smog Check II program, which is designed to bring the state into compliance with the federal Clean Air Act.

In addition to the remote sensors, the program calls for the creation of additional state smog-check testing and referee centers with new test equipment at those centers.

Eventually, smog-check stations are expected to electronically transmit smog certificates directly to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

All aspects of the new program are expected to be under way by September, 1997, in Los Angeles County, Wu said.

The remote sensing devices, however, will be used by the end of this year to flag "gross polluters," or cars that grossly exceed state and federal emissions standards.

Flagged motorists will be notified by mail that they must get a smog check and have their autos repaired, Kniestedt said.

Until all aspects of Smog Check II are in place next year, however, legislation limiting repair costs in Los Angeles County will remain in effect, Wu said.

In Los Angeles, maximum repair costs are based on the age of the car.

Motorists with older cars pay no more than $50 for repairs while owners of newer vehicles can be required to pay a maximum of $300.

If the work, however, exceeds the maximum, motorists are required to visit a state referee for a waiver that is good until the next smog check, Wu said.

After the entire program is in place by the end of 1997, the maximum repair cost would increase to $450, Wu said.

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PHOTO

(1) A camera records a car's license plate as a sensor checks its level of exhaust pollution. (2) Technician Duc Le uses a computer in a nearby trailer to process data collected on cars by sensor and camera. Evan Yee/Daily News