Abstract
As exhaust emission standards for new passenger cars amended in 1987 have become more stringent, vehicle manufacturers have employed three-way catalyst in order to meet these requirements. The purpose of this study was to gather informations on new emission control systems in customer use for in-use vehicles from the 1987 through 1992 model years were capable of achieving low exhaust emission levels although high levels do occur due to defects, deterioration or maladjustments with the emission control equipment. The vehicles with closed loop electronic control fuel injection system emitted low exhaust emission, but the carburetor control system equipped vehicles emitted high exhaust emissions and the high mileage vehicles exhibited higher average emissions than low mileage vehicles. It was also found that the useful life of 80, 000km is very important to maintain the low emission levels within customer service period.
