Specially Constructed Vehicles/Kit Car Certification

This page last reviewed August 21, 2012

Background

California Air Resources Board staff is now seeking input on ways to certify engines intended for use in specially constructed vehicles. California Vehicle Code section 580 defines a specially constructed vehicle as a vehicle built for private use, and not for resale, built from a kit, new or used parts, or a reassembling of parts from a vehicle reported for dismantling, and does not resemble the original vehicle. Existing law requires specially constructed vehicles to be subject to emission requirements prior to being registered for use in California, which generally requires the vehicle engines to be equipped with the emission controls associated with the model year and configuration of the engine. However, up to 500 specially constructed vehicles per year are eligible to be registered pursuant to procedures of Senate Bill (SB)100 (Health and Safety Code section 44017.4), which allows the vehicle owner the option to choose whether the vehicle is subject to requirements based on either engine model year or vehicle model year.

Manufacturers have approached ARB staff with clean engine packages intended for use in specially constructed vehicles. Staff believes that creating a certification path for such engine packages could result in emission benefits compared to existing specially constructed vehicle practices and would like to solicit input from car enthusiast, suppliers, manufacturers and other interested parties on the feasibility and desire to install such emission controlled engine packages into specially constructed vehicles. Staff plans to take a new certification process for Board approval in late 2011.

What's New

Posted August 21, 2012:

Staff have extended the comment period for the modified text for the proposed specially constructed vehicle (kit car) regulation to August 31, 2012. The deadline is being extended because the ARB staff inadvertently omitted one proposed modification to the regulatory language in the original August 8, 2012, notice. Staff have released a notice describing the additional modification.

Posted August 9, 2012:

Staff have posted a Notice of Public Availability of Modified Text and Availability of Additional Documents for the Proposed Certification Procedures for Specially Constructed Vehicles (kit cars). The deadline for public comment is August 23, 2012.

Posted October 4, 2011:

Regulatory Documents for Proposed Certification Process for Engine Packages for Use in Light-Duty Specially Constructed Vehicles. The Air Resources Board will conduct a public hearing on November 17, 2011, in Sacramento, to discuss a new proposed certification process for light-duty engines for use in specially constructed vehicles. The public hearing notice and staff report have been posted on the draft proposed regulations web page. ARB staff has posted additional supporting documentation as well.

Posted September 6, 2011:

Staff has posted a fact sheet concerning specially constructed vehicles/kit cars.

Posted July 27, 2011:

Staff's presentation for the July 28th public workshop is now available.

Posted July 26, 2011:

Meeting materials are now available for the public workshop scheduled to be held on July 28, 2011, in El Monte, California:

Details regarding the workshop are available in the July 8th posting below and in the workshop notice.

Those unable to attend the workshop in person may participate online free of charge by following the instructions below:

Enter the webinar (please click the link to register; registration and participation is free);
Call into the audio teleconference line at 1-800-369-1988 (U.S. only); and
Enter the Passcode: 7908041

Please note that the audio is "listen only" - questions may be submitted via the webinar link above.

Posted July 8, 2011:

ARB invites you to participate in a public workshop on July 28, 2011, in El Monte to discuss a revised proposal and proposed regulatory language. More information about this workshop can be found in this mailout.

DATE: Thursday, July 28, 2011
TIME: 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m
PLACE: Air Resources Board Auditorium
9430 Telstar Avenue
El Monte, California 91731

Posted May 2011:

ARB held a public workshop on May 31, 2011, in Sacramento to discuss a proposed certification path for specially constructed vehicles. More information about the May 31 workshop can be found at the Specially Constructed/Kit Car Meetings/Workshop Page.

Contacts

For more information, please contact Anna Wong, Air Pollution Specialist, at (916) 323-2410 or Kim Heroy-Rogalski, manager, at (916) 327-2200.