Emissions failure rate down slightly in Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. — The rate of vehicles failing Wisconsin’s emission tests is down slightly so far this year, compared to last year.

The state’s new contractor for emissions testing, Systech International, initially reported the percentage of vehicles that failed the test in the first two weeks of July was up to nearly 9 percent, a significant increase from the prior year. But, Systech now says it erroneously over-reported the fail rates because it included vehicles that couldn’t be tested along with those which actually failed. Vehicles can’t be tested if their onboard computers don’t send a signal to the emissions testing equipment.

New figures released to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel show the fail rate from July through September is 5.5 percent — down nearly 1 percentage point when compared to last year.