Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the effectiveness of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) efforts to control air pollution from motor vehicles, focusing on EPA efforts to: (1) identify vehicles exceeding emission standards before and after they are sold to the public; (2) ensure that such vehicles are returned to compliance; and (3) monitor state programs to reduce motor vehicle emissions.
GAO found that: (1) all vehicles sold must be certified by EPA as capable of meeting federal emission standards throughout their useful life; (2) motor vehicles are responsible for over one-half of annual air pollutant emissions; (3) the EPA program for testing vehicles was not adequately identifying those that would fail to meet emission standards; (4) EPA had little assurance that it was identifying all properly maintained in-use vehicles that were failing to meet emission standards; (5) EPA has reduced its testing of in-use vehicles and now tests only one-third of vehicles of the most recent model year; (6) between 1985 and 1987, less than one-half of the vehicles recalled for emission system problems were repaired; (7) EPA established a timetable for options to increase the recall response rate; and (8) EPA did not routinely determine the effectiveness of all programs in meeting specified emission reduction requirements.
