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As a newly developing idea, more and more information is becoming
known about OBD-III. Below are some frequently asked questions
regarding OBD-III. This is not an all-encompassing list, but a start
into understanding the basics of OBD-III. For your convenience,
refer to the easy-to-use menu of items found here.
WHAT IS
OBD-III?
A program to minimize the delay between detection of an emissions
malfunction by the OBD-II system and repair of the vehicle
Two basic elements:
- Read stored OBD-II information from in-use vehicles.
- Direct owners of vehicles with fault codes to make immediate
repairs
OBD-III
TECHNOLOGIES
Three ways to send/receive data:
- Roadside reader
- Local station network
- Satellite
ENFORCEMENT
MECHANISMS
- Incorporate into biennial I/M program
- Read fault code to screen for vehicles that need complete
testing
- Pass or short test for vehicles with no fault code
- Does not speed up repair process
- Out-of-cycle inspection
- Compile and screen data
- Mail notice to vehicle owner requiring out-of-cycle
inspection within 10 days
- Require Certificate of Compliance (C of C) on next
registration/resale, or
- Require C of C within 30-60 days, with citation for
noncompliance
- Enforce citation via court and/or DMV penalty at next
registration
- Roadside Pullover
- CHP flags down vehicles with fault codes
- Technician verifies problem by inspecting and/or testing
vehicle
- Issuance of notice requiring out-of-cycle inspection
- Same enforcement (C of C /citation)
LEGAL ISSUES
- OBD-III imposes sanctions based on "suspicionless mass
surveillance" of private property
- Random, possibly frequent testing
- No advanced knowledge vehicle will be tested
- Results of testing not immediately available (unless
roadside pullover follows)
- No opportunity to confront or rebut
- Possible use of system for other purposes (Police
pursuit/immobilization, tracking, cite speeders)
- OBD-III raises 4th Amendment search and seizure privacy
issues:
- ''The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and
seizures shall not be violated...'' (emphasis added; also see Art.
I, Sec. 19 of Calif. Constitution)
- From legal perspective, it is unprecedented: previous cases
have looked at surveillance of individuals
ARB Request For
Proposals
Incorporation of Radio Transponders into Vehicle On-Board
Diagnostic Systems
The Air Resources Board reserves the right to reject any proposal
deemed nonresponsive to the RFP, not responsible, and/or not
reasonable.
Proposals submitted under this RFP will be evaluated by the
"secondary" method, in which the cost of the proposed research is an
important, but not a determining, factor in the awarding of the
contract.
I. OBJECTIVES
The objective of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility and
cost effectiveness of replacing the current emissions-based periodic
Inspection and Maintenance (I/M) program with automated inspections
based on the OBD-II system and an on-vehicle radio transponder. The
study will test, evaluate and demonstrate the viability and cost of
equipping new vehicles with various transponder technologies and
assess how these technologies can be effectively used to improve the
convenience, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of the I/M
program.
Perhaps the most serious drawback in California's current I/M
program is the fact that the entire vehicle fleet must be tested in
order to identify the relatively small number of vehicles that are
likely to fail. Currently, approximately ten million vehicles per
year are required to undergo an I/M inspection that results in
passing scores for 70 percent of the vehicles. The pass rate is
expected to improve to perhaps 90 percent as vehicles with more
durable emission control systems enter the fleet. Californians spend
in excess of $168,000,000 per year having clean cars tested. If the
inspection process could be automated through the use of
transponder-assisted on-board diagnostic systems (in what could
become an OBD-III requirement or program), the process could be made
less costly and time-consuming: only those vehicles with actual
problems, as indicated through the presence of codes stored in the
OBD-II system, would be required to undergo a full inspection.
In this study, the contractor will evaluate how inspections of
radio-transponder equipped vehicles could be performed, taking into
account effectiveness, cost, convenience, and public reaction.
Special attention shall be given to assessing and addressing privacy
concerns involving the use of transponders. The contractor will
fully assess at least one concept involving periodic inspections of
transponder-equipped vehicles, and shall assess at least one
non-periodic based inspection concept if according to its assessment
that would be as effective and more cost-effective than periodic
inspections. The contractor will procure and install appropriate
transponders on several OBD-II-equipped vehicles and demonstrate the
viability of performing transponder-based inspections. Based on the
demonstration, the contractor will compare the effectiveness, cost,
and time of transponder-based inspections to the current enhanced
I/M program.
II. BACKGROUND
As stated above, some $168,000,000 per year is spent in the I/M
program to test vehicles that subsequently pass the inspection.
While recently adopted enhancement to the program will result in a
substantial improvement to the program's effectiveness for vehicles
that fail, the costs of inspection are also projected to increase
for both passing and failing vehicles. This situation is further
complicated by the fact that improvements in vehicle durability are
projected to further decrease the percentage of failing vehicles in
the future. Although several approaches are being
incorporated into the new I/M program that are designed to
pre-screen the fleet for passing and failing vehicles (i.e., High
Emitter Profile and Remote Sensing Devices), no provisions are
currently in place to exempt "clean" vehicles from inspection.
In 1989, the ARB adopted regulations requiring the installation
of sophisticated on-board diagnostic systems beginning with the 1994
model year (OBD-II). By 1996, all new passenger cars and light- and
medium-duty vehicles certified for sale in California will be
required to have OBD-II systems that require the illumination of a
malfunction indicator light (MIL) when malfunctions occur that are
likely to result in emissions that exceed 1.5 times the vehicle's
certification standard. As emissions standards values are reduced in
future model years, more accurate and more sophisticated monitoring
systems must be developed. Whereas Remote Sensing relies upon a
several-millisecond snapshot of emissions, the constant monitoring
of emissions-critical components by the OBD system may obviate the
need to perform traditional emissions tests of vehicles so
equipped.
III. SCOPE OF WORK
Task 1 - Assessment of inspection options.
Currently, California's Inspection and Maintenance Program
requires the inspection of all vehicles at least once every two
years. Some portion of the fleet, however, because of change of
ownership or identification of gross emissions, may undergo more
frequent inspection. In this task, the contractor shall evaluate a
number of inspection options of transponder-equipped vehicles based
upon the estimation of the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and
convenience of each option relative to the current enhanced periodic
inspection requirement.
The overall objective of this task is to identify the most
promising approaches, at least one periodic and one non-periodic,
utilizing the automated inspection capabilities afforded by
transponder-equipped vehicles. Possible approaches include
performing the automated inspection at licensed inspections stations
and/or as part of the periodic maintenance servicing performed at
automobile dealerships, or performing the inspections
non-periodically at stand-alone kiosks or gasoline service stations.
In proposing possible alternatives to traditional periodic
inspections, the contractor will be required to thoroughly assess
public reaction, possible privacy issues, and the likelihood of
public acceptance for each approach studied. As part of this
assessment, the contractor shall evaluate how a driver-controlled
activation switch might impact program effectiveness.
Several entities, including government agencies and private
industry, are currently pursuing the use of radio transponders in
vehicular applications. In light of the fact that cooperative
research in this area may lead to a more cost-effective system and
increase public acceptance, the contractor shall also investigate
the possibility for coordination with other entities and the
identification of possible conflicts between this project and any
other project planned or currently underway.
Task 2 - Procurement and instrumentation of test fleet.
In this task the contractor shall procure five OBD-II-equipped
vehicles and outfit each (as described below) with radio
transponders that have been procured or fabricated by the
contractor. One of the five vehicles will be supplied to the
selected contractor by the ARB, and thus bidders should only budget
for procurement of four vehicles. Multiple vehicles are required to
resolve any issues of signal collision between the reader and two or
more vehicles attempting to respond to an automated query.
Bidders must provide a list of eligible makes and models and
their strategy for the most cost-effective method of obtaining these
vehicles for this project. It is preferred that a mix of foreign and
domestic vehicles be procured in order to address the relative ease
or difficulty of systems integration. ARB staff approval shall be
obtained prior to vehicle procurement. Proposals must also specify
the explicit method of obtaining the vehicles (rental, lease, etc.)
and estimated costs. The purchase of vehicles as "Equipment" is
discouraged because of vehicle selection limitations imposed by the
State procurement process.
The contractor shall procure or fabricate five (5) transponder
systems and two (2) receivers having the capabilities described
below:
The transponders shall have the capability of storing and
transmitting the full 17-digit vehicle identification number (VIN)
of the vehicle in which it is installed.
The transponders shall transmit the presence of emissions faults
and the actual fault code numbers stored in the OBD-II system.
The transponders shall transmit a status code indicating "OK", or
a trouble code indicating that the integrity of the system has been
compromised or that the power supply is low (or disconnected). This
status code shall be transmitted whenever the system is queried.
The physical dimensions of the transponders should allow for
installation in either the engine compartment or behind the
dashboard. The desired dimensions of the complete system are not to
exceed that of a pack of cigarettes (about 1" x 2 _ " x 3 _").
Whether the transponder system is to be mounted in the engine
compartment or behind the dash, the contractor shall ensure that the
transponder operates reliably during extreme operating conditions
which are typical in vehicular applications, including high
temperature, high humidity, and vibration.
The transponder systems should be designed to use the vehicle's
power supply, but should also incorporate a method to prevent loss
of information and to store (and transmit when queried) a trouble
code if the vehicle's battery fails or is disconnected. Bidders
shall discuss how the transponder system will be integrated with the
existing battery re-connect strategies (i.e., disconnecting the
vehicle battery for more than a short period of time typically
resets many vehicle parameters --including trouble codes--to default
values).
The contractor shall address the issue of system and data
security, specifically in the area of tamper-proofing of
transponders. The proposal should suggest how the systems can be
made as "tamper-proof" as possible. As defined here, tampering
includes erasing trouble codes, overriding the OBD system, and
sending out fake and/or false codes. Bidders shall also note to whom
the security measures would be aimed (ordinary consumers, typical
mechanics, specialty parts manufacturers, etc.).
The transponder signal receivers shall be capable of performing
these functions:
Querying a specific vehicle that is in close proximity to
similarly equipped vehicles without signal collision.
Storing a query and received data in a database format. Data
stored will include:
- A.Date and time of current query
- B.Date and time of last query
- C.VIN
- D.Status ("OK", "Trouble", or "No response")
- E.Stored Codes
- F.Receiver station number
"COOPERATIVE TECHNIQUES" For
Police Pursuit/Mobilization
The cooperative techniques comprise devices that are installed on
automobiles. These devices would receive a coded radio frequency
signal that would produce a progressive speed reduction or shut down
the automobile. The speed reduction and shut down could be
incorporated in the On-Board Diagnostic (OBD) III system that is
planned for implementation in the year 2000 and later. This system
is planned to have a radio transponder for reading out automobile
status including vehicle number and smog equipment fault codes.
The major obstacle to overcome is to get public acceptance of a
device that they have to pay for and that can disable their
automobile. One way to obtain public acceptance may be to offer
incentives by including this device as part of a package that
provides other benefits. These benefits could be an anti-theft
device and/or a smog readout device. The smog readout device could
eliminate the need for costly and time-consuming periodic
inspections at smog stations. With the idea that the only time you
would need to go to an inspection station is when the automobile
exceeds smog-generating limits.
In addition to public acceptance, this approach will require
federal government, state government and car manufacturer
cooperation.
The use of a cooperative device has strong appeal because of
effectiveness, safety and ease of use. Incorporating the overall
system as part of a larger subsystem would reduce cost and make it
more attractive.
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