Most people know that today's vehicles are equipped with anti-pollution systems. For those who remember, there was a time when the vehicles we drove had none and it didn't bother anyone. We didn't know that our cars polluted or did know but considered it to be a normal yet unimportant phenomenon.
That all changed in the seventies.
And that was caused by two important events.
The first one was what is known today as the oil crisis. In 1973, a new organization was formed that would later be known as the OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). These countries, which own the majority of the oil reserves of the planet, had decided to take control of the oil market by fixing the price and by limiting their production in order to establish their stronghold on the resource. Plus, they too wanted to get rich selling oil...That event resulted in the first shortage of oil for the western world since World War II. We started to see line-ups at the pumps and a new feeling of vulnerability emerged
The second event was what we could call the birth of a large ecological movement. It's at that time that people started to realize the negative and sometimes deadly effect that our way of life had on the planet and on us as humans.
The combination of these two factors had a major impact on the automotive industry. First, with the price of gas rising sharply, people started to look for more fuel-efficient cars. Problem was the American car companies didn't have any to sell since they were too busy in their race for power. Therefore, fuel economy or the environment were not in their plans.
But, in the meantime, insignificant little car companies to whom nobody paid attention made them. These obscure companies going under such exotic weird names as Toyota, Honda, Datsun (the name that Nissan gave to its North-American affiliate,
in case things didn't work out) and Mazda started to sell cars like hotcakes. For those who didn't know, that is when the Japanese car invasion began.
Anti-pollution standards
(For those who could be bothered by the fact that I will only be talking about the American and Californian standards, I want you to know that Canada follows these norms and do not have specific ones. That's why I go to the source)
Let's look at what products and vehicles are regulated
Federal and California standards limit exhaust emissions of five pollutants: hydrocarbons (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM, for diesel vehicles only), and formaldehyde (HCHO). Hydrocarbons and NOx are the major contributors to urban smog.
The different levels of standards
First, I must precise that there are two types of standards that apply to Canada and the U.S. There is the American federal standard, less stringent, and the Californian standard the federal government let them establish in the seventies because of their acute pollution problem.
That all changed in the seventies.
And that was caused by two important events.
The first one was what is known today as the oil crisis. In 1973, a new organization was formed that would later be known as the OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). These countries, which own the majority of the oil reserves of the planet, had decided to take control of the oil market by fixing the price and by limiting their production in order to establish their stronghold on the resource. Plus, they too wanted to get rich selling oil...That event resulted in the first shortage of oil for the western world since World War II. We started to see line-ups at the pumps and a new feeling of vulnerability emerged
The second event was what we could call the birth of a large ecological movement. It's at that time that people started to realize the negative and sometimes deadly effect that our way of life had on the planet and on us as humans.
The combination of these two factors had a major impact on the automotive industry. First, with the price of gas rising sharply, people started to look for more fuel-efficient cars. Problem was the American car companies didn't have any to sell since they were too busy in their race for power. Therefore, fuel economy or the environment were not in their plans.
But, in the meantime, insignificant little car companies to whom nobody paid attention made them. These obscure companies going under such exotic weird names as Toyota, Honda, Datsun (the name that Nissan gave to its North-American affiliate,
in case things didn't work out) and Mazda started to sell cars like hotcakes. For those who didn't know, that is when the Japanese car invasion began.
Anti-pollution standards
(For those who could be bothered by the fact that I will only be talking about the American and Californian standards, I want you to know that Canada follows these norms and do not have specific ones. That's why I go to the source)
Let's look at what products and vehicles are regulated
Federal and California standards limit exhaust emissions of five pollutants: hydrocarbons (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM, for diesel vehicles only), and formaldehyde (HCHO). Hydrocarbons and NOx are the major contributors to urban smog.
The different levels of standards
First, I must precise that there are two types of standards that apply to Canada and the U.S. There is the American federal standard, less stringent, and the Californian standard the federal government let them establish in the seventies because of their acute pollution problem.