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BAR Donates Smog Check Equipment

4 December 1998

BAR Donates Smog Check Equipment to Los Angeles-Area Automotive Training Facilities

                  17 Smog Check Units Will Benefit Students

    LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3 -- The Department of Consumer
Affairs/Bureau of Automotive Repair (DCA/BAR) is once again taking the lead to
address a disturbing trend in the automotive repair industry. Statistics
suggest that more than 70 percent of new automotive repair jobs created
between 1995 and 2005 will require advanced training while, at the same time,
the number of qualified repair technicians is dropping by as much as 5 percent
annually.
    On October 15, 1998, BAR began delivering 17 pieces of modern Smog Check
equipment to Los Angeles-area automotive training facilities.
    The BAR-90 Test Analyzer System (TAS) units were seized by BAR in
undercover investigations. The Los Angeles Unified School District Adult
Education Department received 14 of the units and the Santa Monica City
College Automotive Program received the remaining 3 units.
    "This is not the first time we have made this kind of donation," said BAR
Chief Marty Keller. "We are committed to contributing to the training of
future repair technicians while helping school districts and other automotive
training facilities keep their expenses down."
    Greg Allen of BAR's Culver City field office initiated the equipment
donation and worked directly with Mark Bunkers of the Los Angeles Unified
School District and Richard Gire of Santa Monica City College.
    "We certainly appreciate getting this equipment," said Los Angeles
Unified's Bunkers. "Having TAS units will help students get some real hands-on
training."
    Gire echoed Bunkers' sentiment. "These units will certainly be a way for
us to effectively train prospective repair technicians."
    The TAS units, which had a combined estimated retail value of
$220,000, will be used at Santa Monica City College, the Abraham Freidman
Occupational Center, and various occupational centers in the Los Angeles
Unified system.
    All 17 units were seized as the result of BAR investigations in which the
Smog Check stations were found to be clean-piping vehicles -- the illegal
practice of using vehicle identification data from a "clean" vehicle that
passed its Smog Check to fraudulently pass a failing vehicle.