The intent of OBD-III is to use some kind of wireless mechanism to notify the state that your check engine light is on. In California, for instance, you have to pass a smog check every six months, so people driving four months with a failed emission control system are contributing a lot of emissions.
It's been hung up forever because of privacy concerns, fears about rent seeking (being forced to buy a cell phone plan for your car), etc.
are also hung up indefinitely because the cell phone industry is pushing "secure" solutions that involve cellular infrastructure but not promising to invest enough in their network to cover all the places you might want them. That and the rent seeking, privacy, etc.
If your car has a check engine light on, you can also unplug the battery overnight, connect it in the morning, drive 40 to 70 miles in a mix of city and highway conditions, and take it immediately to the inspection station before the check engine light comes on.
There is usually a window between when the car will report there is not enough data to pass the emissions test, and when the car reports a failure of the emissions test. Maybe try unplugging the battery every night for a week and you can get a good idea of when you can get it inspected and passed.
Any scan tool can show "readiness" which is what occurs after the necessary amount of driving has been completed, so someone looking to do this can just watch for that instead of guessing. Shops like AutoZone will even let you scan for free if you don't have one.
That's what most people do for a repeatable issue, but there are "gremlin cases" where a car in otherwise good repair will somewhat randomly set a MIL code.
Wife's 2005 CR-V will around once per year set P0325 (knock sensor, bank 1). I've replaced the knock sensor [twice], rang out the wiring, and checked/cleaned all the connectors. It's a 17.5 year old car with ~225K miles on it that sets a code once a year. It's not going to get any more fixed than it already is.
Catalytic converters are an expensive fix. It might not be worth it to fix the car.
Alternative option is to sell the car to someone in a state that does not require emissions testing.
Also, if someone steals your catalytic converter, and there is not much damage, it is possible to “straight pipe” it for cheap and just not put in a catalytic converter. Although, I would assume inspection stations have cameras or mirrors where they can see the bottom of the car, so this might only be worth it in states that do not do inspections.
The intent of OBD-III is to use some kind of wireless mechanism to notify the state that your check engine light is on. In California, for instance, you have to pass a smog check every six months, so people driving four months with a failed emission control system are contributing a lot of emissions.
It's been hung up forever because of privacy concerns, fears about rent seeking (being forced to buy a cell phone plan for your car), etc.
These sort of applications
https://www.nhtsa.gov/technology-innovation/vehicle-vehicle-...
are also hung up indefinitely because the cell phone industry is pushing "secure" solutions that involve cellular infrastructure but not promising to invest enough in their network to cover all the places you might want them. That and the rent seeking, privacy, etc.