Emissions control stations test car emissions to see if too many pollutants are being spewed out. Sometimes it is obvious that this is the case, but sometimes it is subtle.

Natural gas has an odorant included to tip folks off that unburned natural gas is leaking. The odorant is broken down if the gas is burned. I propose that a similar odorant be added to gasoline. This would be a strong, strange odor (maybe patchoulli) which would be completely destroyed in a healthy hengine. Engines with too many bad emissions would likewise emit some unburned odorant, tipping off the owner that there was a problem.

A similar odorant could be added to brake pads, but just because burning brakes smell so dang bad.
-- bungston, Sep 16 2003

you can't smell gasoline?
-- dickity, Sep 16 2003


// maybe patchoulli //

Please, God, no.
-- DeathNinja, Sep 16 2003


whats patchoulli?
-- dickity, Sep 16 2003


//a healthy hengine//

Henry Higgins would like that one. Do you mean an ealthy hengine?
-- AO, Sep 16 2003


Yeah, and while you're at it, leave the gasoline alone too, I love that smell!
-- jivetalkinrobot, Sep 17 2003


a visual warning would be good enough. An odor would just anniy other drivers
-- SystemAdmin, Sep 17 2003


For a visual warning, I suggest combat clowns paratooping on top of the offending vehicle.
-- kevindimie, Sep 17 2003


Patchouli is a very strong fragrant oil often overused by many who fit the "Brooklyinite Italian" stereotype. So, instead of smelling like smog, freeways would smell like little italy, minus the lasagna.
-- Freefall, Sep 17 2003


Out here on the left coast, patchouli is used by those we used to call hippies, then we called throwbacks, and now we just step over them on the sidewalk if we happen to be unfortunate enough to end up walking down Haight St. As Robert Mailer Anderson said in the disclaimer to his book 'Boonville' (the best part--the rest of the book is pretty lame--don't bother, I wish I hadn't) "As for the hippies in the county who may be upset at the depiction of hippies, I say, 'Tough shit, hippie.' Anyone willing to identify themselves as a hippie here in the 21st century has their head up their ass and gets what they deserve."
-- oxen crossing, Sep 17 2003


maybe it's trying to tell you something
-- bigtxgrandma, Sep 17 2003


Patchouli: A small southeast Asian shrub (Pogostemon cablin) in the mint family, having leaves that yield a fragrant oil used in the manufacture of perfumes.
-- Cedar Park, Sep 18 2003


now I know more than I ever needed to know about Patchouli
-- dickity, Sep 18 2003



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