In a year that just keeps on doling out the awesome news at seemingly every turn, the latest wrinkle involves Camaro, copper, and salmon. Oh, also Arnold Schwarzenegger. Long story short is that back in 2010 a law was signed in California and then later in Washington that prohibited the sale of cars which had more than 5% copper content in the brake pads as of January 1, 2021. The idea is that the copper is in the brake dust, the dust gets washed into the water, and the salmon suffer the consequences.
Either someone missed the memo on this, simply forgot about it because it is so damned ridiculous, or maybe hoped no one would notice at Chevrolet. Well, no matter the reason, you cannot walk into a dealer and buy a Camaro SS or ZL1 in either Washington or California at the moment. A fix is supposedly on the way.
Now, not selling these cars in Washington is one thing but California? That’s going to be a kick in the yam bag for the already scorned Camaro which is steaming toward its second discontinuation as a model in a couple of years. Sales of the car aren’t what Chevrolet wanted and frankly not being able to sell the good ones in California is not going to make that better.
But hey, the salmon aren’t going to taste brake dust anytime soon? Oh, one thing we have not been able to determine is if the law covers aftermarket brake pads. Because if it doesn’t this gets even more stupid by the second. Good times.
The proof that we’re not making this up: Camaro SS and ZL1 sales banned in WA and CA
Man, I don’t know how to approach this without being political, so I won’t. I will never live on the west coast, screw them.
Leave it to California to come up with something as profoundly stupid as that.
Another blunder by GM. Brembos own rep said they manufacture plenty of non- copper pads. Mustangs come with a Brembo package as an option.
Ha, ha, April fools! Oh wait…
How did this one slip in? Reminds me of that stupid exhaust law a couple years back. So Cali’s going full electric by 2035? Lithium ion batteries are going to be the big polluter! Not to mention how they are mined. I’m beginning to see the hypocrisy!!!
How did this one slip in? Reminds me of that stupid exhaust law a couple years ago. So Cali’s only selling electric cars by 2035? Lithium ion batteries are gonna be a toxic disposal nightmare! Not to mention the mining involved. I’m beginning to see the hypocrisy of my state!!
Beginning to?
Shame on Washington for following California on this! Or leading the way? How many people are running after market brake kits and/or pads with 5% copper???
GM refuses to put different brakes on their cars…. here, let’s remind you folks what we in Washington have (because of that legislation) that you probably don’t…. no vehicle emissions testing. None.
Seems GM has no problem making Corvette comply, sorry, as much as I hate government mandates – I’m done with crybabies. GM could easily fix this and they don’t….
So… it’s ok to pollute the air but heaven forbid brake dust gets into the water. That’s effed up.
Still not as stupid as taking the Zinc out of motor oil because it “harms the earth”. Ahhh….where the hell do you think it came from in the first place??? Funny it’s fine while it’s still IN the ground but not later. Brilliant!!
They took zinc out of oil because it harms the cat. converters.
The left coast continues to live down to it’s reputation of Stupid Central.
Most commenters seem to not be able to read the regs, there is no need for the copper if you read the info and what Brembo has to say, guess this is who Chevy markets to because they didn’t read the 10 year memo apparently. Meanwhile, Ford has Brembo packages for sale now in Ca…
Nobody buys these cars anyway so it probably isn’t a big deal
This is starting to sound like fake news!
Seems like swapping pads at the dealer would be pretty easy.
CA inspects cars coming into the state for “non compliant fruit”… You think they’d let the brake pads into the state?