the TRUCK STOP | Useful Links for Regulations
The list below includes ARB regulations that apply to heavy-duty diesel vehicles operating in California. Visit the Diesel Vehicles Page to determine which regulations may apply to your fleet. For more information please call (866) 6-DIESEL or (866-634-3735) from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. or by email at 8666DIESEL@arb.ca.gov.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
- Used as a separate power source for cab comfort on sleeper births. Diesel-fueled auxiliary power units use small diesel engines to generate power for cab heating, cab cooling, and operating ancillary cab appliances. These units can also be used to heat the engine block in cold weather and recharge the vehicle's battery. Because of the engine's smaller size, operating a diesel-fueled auxiliary power unit uses only a fraction of the fuel that would be used by idling the vehicle's primary engine.
- A diesel-fueled auxiliary power unit operated on a truck equipped with a 2007 or newer engine must:
- Be fitted with a verified Level 3 particulate control device (85% particulate reduction efficiency), or
- Have its exhaust plumbed into the vehicle's exhaust system upstream of the particulate matter aftertreatment device.
- In addition, an approved "Verified Clean APS" label must be affixed to the hood of the vehicle.
Note: For trucks with 2007 and newer model year engines, additional requirements apply. For trucks with 2006 and earlier model year engines, any California- or federally-certified internal-combustion auxiliary power system may be used.
Regulatory
Program Website
Exhaust
Retrofit Guidance
Drayage (Port or Rail Yard) Trucks
Note: These requirements include changes that are pending approval by the Office of Administrative Law. Please call program staff for additional information if needed.
- Drayage trucks are defined as on-road heavy-duty
diesel-fueled class-7 and class-8 (GVWR greater than 26,000 lbs.)
trucks transporting port or rail yard cargos in California. The
regulation applies to all drayage trucks regardless of the state or
country of origin or visit frequency.
- In general, the regulation requires emission reductions
from drayage trucks as well as vehicle registration in the State
operated Drayage Truck Registry (DTR). The emission reduction
requirements are phased-in starting January 1, 2010 and DTR
registration must be completed prior to port or rail yard entry. Please
use the ‘Drayage Truck Fact Sheet’ and ‘Regulation Website’ links below
for additional information and to register your truck.
Regulatory
Program Website
Drayage
Truck Fact Sheet
Drayage
Truck Registry Fact Sheet
Exhaust
Retrofit Guidance
Emission Control Label Inspection Program
- Each vehicle operating in California - including those in transit from Mexico, Canada, or any other state – must have a label, called an Emission Control Label, showing that the engine met the required federal emission standards applicable for the model year of the engine.
- The program establishes inspection protocol for determining whether the engine of a heavy-duty vehicle met the federal emission standard applicable to the engine's model year at the time of manufacture.
- Vehicles equipped with engines that do not meet the applicable federal emission standard are prohibited from operating in California.
- Engines that are missing their ECL are subject to civil penalties.
Regulatory Program
Website
Emission
Control Label Advisory
Greenhouse Gas
Emission Reduction Regulation (Tractor-Trailer (GHG) Regulation)
- Applies to owners of 53-foot or longer box-type trailers, including both dry-van and refrigerated-van trailers, and the owners of heavy-duty tractors that pull them on California highways. These owners are responsible for replacing or retrofitting their affected vehicles with compliant aerodynamic technologies (such as fairings and skirts) and low rolling resistance tires.
- All owners regardless of where their vehicles are registered must comply with the regulation when they operate their affected vehicles on California highways. Besides the owners of these vehicles, drivers, motor carriers, California-based brokers and California-based shippers that operate or use them also share in the responsibility for compliance with the regulation. One or all of these parties may be held accountable for operating or using non-compliant vehicles on California highways.
- Approved equipment must be certified or verified by the U.S. EPA SmartWay Partnership Program.
Regulatory
Program Website
Greenhouse
Gas Reduction Fact Sheet
Compliance
Information for Small Fleets Fact Sheet
Compliance
Information for Large Fleets Fact Sheet
Local-Haul
Exemption Fact Sheet
Short-Haul
Exemption Fact Sheet
Low Rolling Resistance Tire Fact Sheet
Heavy-Duty
Diesel Vehicle Air Quality Loan Program
Smartway Partnership
Program
Heavy-Duty Diesel Vehicle Inspection Program (HDVIP)
- The HDVIP program requires heavy-duty trucks and buses to be inspected for excessive smoke and tampering, and emission control label compliance.
- Any heavy-duty vehicle traveling in California, including vehicles registered in other states and foreign countries, may be tested.
- Tests are performed by ARB inspection teams at border crossings, CHP weigh stations, fleet facilities, and randomly selected roadside locations.
Regulatory
Program Website
HDVIP
Brochure
- Applies to heavy-duty diesel engines with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) greater than 10,000 lbs. that operate on California highways including operators of both in-state and out-of-state registered sleeper berth equipped trucks.
- Requires manual or automatic shutdown after five minutes of idling.
- 2008 and newer model year engines must be equipped with a non-programmable engine shutdown system that automatically shuts down the engine after five minutes of idling.
- Immediate shutdown is required at or within 100 feet of a school or school activity site. Restart no more than 30 seconds before departing, regardless of fuel type.
Commercial
Idling Regulatory Program Website
Commercial
Idling Fact Sheet
School
Zone Idling Regulatory Program Website
School
Zone Idling Fact Sheet
Periodic Smoke Inspection Program (PSIP)
- All California-based fleets of two or more heavy-duty diesel vehicles (gross vehicle rating over 6,000 pounds) are required to perform annual smoke and tamper inspections of their fleet vehicles and repair those with excessive smoke. All vehicles that do not pass the test must be repaired and retested.
- Beginning January 2010, diesel vehicles manufactured after1997 with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 14,000 pounds or less are included in the California Smog Check Program. The Smog Check Program requires vehicles to receive a biennial Smog Check. The Smog Check is required for the registration of the vehicle by the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) or for change of ownership.
- 1998 and newer diesel powered vehicle garaged in an air quality non-attainment area of the state with a GVWR of 14,000 pounds or less, are NOT subject to the requirements of the PSIP any longer. They ARE subject to biennial smog check inspections.
- 1998 and newer diesel powered vehicle garaged in an air quality attainment area of the state with a GVWR of 14,000 pounds or less, are NOT subject to biennial smog check inspections but ARE required to have a passing PSIP inspection on a BIENNIAL BASIS.
- 1997 model year or earlier diesel powered vehicles with a GVWR between 6,000 and 14,000 pounds are still subject to the ANNUAL PSIP inspection and record keeping requirements.
- Fleet owners are not required to inspect vehicles that are powered by diesel engines until their fourth model year (example: 2000 year engines must have their first test completed in 2004).
- Smoke inspection and maintenance records must be kept by the
fleet for two years.
- The ARB randomly audits fleets, to examine smoke inspection and maintenance records and may test a representative sample of vehicles.
Regulatory
Program Website
Periodic
Smoke Inspection Program Brochure
- Any municipality or utility that owns, leases, or operates an on-road diesel-fueled heavy-duty vehicle with a 1960 to 2006 model-year heavy-duty engine or a 2007 model-year or newer engine certified to greater than 0.01 grams per brake horsepower-hour particulate emission standard and manufacturer’s GVWR greater than 14,000 pounds.
- A municipality is defined as a city, county, city and county, special district, or a public agency of the State of California, and any department, division, public corporation, or public agency of this State, or two or more entities acting jointly.
- A utility is defined as a privately-owned company that provides the same or similar services for water, natural gas, and electricity as a public utility operated by a municipality.
- Requires particulate emission reductions by applying best available control technology (BACT) to vehicles according to a specified implementation schedule. Please use the ‘Public Agency and Utility Fact Sheet’ link below for additional information on BACT.
- Fleets located in low-population counties may elect to follow the low-population implementation schedule, which provides more time to comply with BACT compared to fleets located in larger counties. Municipalities or utilities not located in low-population counties may qualify for low-population county status provided certain criteria are met and their operations are not supported by a special district assessment or fee. More information on low-population county status is available at: http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/publicfleets/lpcapplication.doc.
- Owners must apply compliance status labels to vehicles and maintain vehicle records.
- Public transit agency-A public entity responsible for administering and managing transit services. Public transit agencies can directly operate transit service or contract out for all or part of the total transit service provided.
- Urban bus- A passenger carrying vehicle owned or operated by a public transit agency, powered by a heavy heavy-duty engine, or of a type normally powered by a heavy heavy-duty diesel engine, intended primarily for intra-city operation. A bus normally powered by a heavy heavy-duty diesel engine is usually 35 feet or longer, and/or greater than 33,000 pounds GVWR.
- Transit Fleet Vehicles- An on-road vehicle greater than 8,500 pounds gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) powered by a heavy-duty engine fueled by diesel or alternative fuel, owned or operated by a transit agency, and which is not an urban bus.
- Requires annual reporting to ARB on or by January 31st.
- Owners of diesel-fueled school buses with a Gross Vehicle
Weight Rating over 14,000 pounds are required to install diesel
particulate filters from 2012 to 2014.
- School buses that cannot be retrofitted (e.g. 2-stroke engine buses), can delay their compliance until January 1, 2018. Reporting requirements apply until the school bus is brought into compliance. By January 1, 2018, these buses must be replaced, or repowered with an engine that can be retrofit.
- Owners must retire school buses manufactured before April 1, 1977, by January 1, 2012.
- Any on-road heavy-duty vehicle with a manufacturer’s GVWR greater than 14,000 pounds used for the purpose of collecting residential and commercial solid waste for a fee, regardless of the type of vehicle (i.e. dump-truck, roll-off-truck, box-truck, etc). Required to maintain fleet reports on site and submit to ARB upon request.
- Requires particulate emission reductions by applying best available control technology (BACT) to vehicles according to a specified implementation schedule. Please use the ‘Solid Waste Collection Vehicle Fact Sheet’ link below for additional information on BACT.
- Applies to in-use diesel-fueled TRUs and TRU generator sets that operate in California, whether they are registered in or outside the State. This includes all carriers that transport perishable goods using diesel-powered refrigeration systems on trucks, trailers, shipping containers, and railcars that operate in California.
- California-based reefers were required to register with ARB by July 31, 2009, or within 30 days of a new or used unit entering a carrier’s control. California terminal operators that operate TRUs were also required to submit Operator Reports by July 31, 2009, and provide updates within 30 days of changes to any information. Enforcement of these requirements began in August 2009.
- The first deadline for in-use performance standards for 2001 and older engines was December 31, 2008. Model year 2002 engines were required to comply by December 31, 2009. Enforcement of in-use performance standards began in January 2010. Subsequent model year engines must comply with in-use standards by December 31st of the seventh year after the engine model year.
- Requires PM filters for heavier trucks starting January 1, 2012 and early vehicle replacements for vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 14,000 pounds starting January 1, 2015.
- Applies to privately and federally owned trucks and buses and privately and publicly owned school buses with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 14,000 pounds that operate in California.
- Includes any person, business, school district, tribal reservation, or federal government agency that owns, operates, leases or rents affected vehicles.
- Fleets of three or fewer vehicles can take advantage of the small fleet provisions that delay clean-up until January 1, 2014, however, reporting requirements start in 2012. There is no fee for reporting.
- Does not include vehicles subject to Solid Waste Collection Vehicle Regulation, Public Agency and Utility Vehicle Regulation, or Transit/Urban Bus Regulations.
Regulatory
Program Website
Transport
Refrigeration Unit Brochure
TRU
Registration
Exhaust
Retrofit Guidance
Regulatory Program Website
Reducing Emissions from Existing Diesel Vehicles
Heavy-Duty
Diesel Vehicle Air Quality Loan Program Fact Sheet
Agricultural
Vehicle Provisions Fact Sheet
Compliance Requirements Fact Sheet
Exhaust Retrofit Guidance