Vehicle inspection and maintenance, and air pollution in Mexico city

摘要

Information from the Mandatory Inspection and Maintenance(I/M)Program carried out in October 1996 and the first semester of 1998 provides a useful emission database for Mexico City. Carbon monoxide (CO)and hyrocarbon(HC)exhaust emission levels were measured for at least a million private and public transportation vehicles. Analysis of this database leads us to conclude that this information can be used to test anti-pollutant policies, and is useful as a performance quality index for vehicle manufacturers. Some of the results of this analysis include: the finding of a typical exhaust emission distribution curve for each vehicle manufacturer, with differences for each brand and model for the same manufacturer, the fact that not all new vehicles pass the I/M test; and public transportation vehicles in Mexico City have almost useless catalytic converters.