Rapid Screen: FAQs

RapidScreen is Air Care Colorado’s convenient, laser-based, mobile emissions testing program. By simply driving past a RapidScreen testing van, drivers of clean-running, low-polluting vehicles can have their vehicle screened and approved on the fly, allowing them to skip a trip to an emissions testing facility.

If your vehicle has passed RapidScreen’s emissions qualifications, you’ll receive a notification in the mail on your registration renewal card. You can accept your car’s clean bill of health and save yourself a trip to an emissions testing facility by simply paying the emissions fee along with your registration renewal fee. Read More >

Nothing. RapidScreen is NOT a program that penalizes drivers. RapidScreen is a program that allows the cleanest, lowest-polluting vehicles on the road to pass their emissions test on the fly. Therefore it’s possible to fail a RapidScreen test, but still be able to pass a standard tailpipe emissions test at any of Air Care Colorado’s emissions testing facilities. If your vehicle fails to meet RapidScreen’s strict qualifications, the need for a standard emissions test will be indicated on your registration renewal card.

No. Participation in the RapidScreen program is entirely voluntary. If your registration renewal card states that your vehicle has passed emissions via RapidScreen, you may choose to participate by simply paying your emissions fee along with your registration fee. If you wish not to participate, you’ll need to receive a standard emissions test at your local testing facility—in which case your emissions fee would be due at the time of that test. Read More >

This is necessary in order to obtain an accurate emissions sample. When a vehicle is either accelerating too heavily or not accelerating at all, the emissions it releases are not truly representative. This is why the RapidScreen test also measures a vehicle’s speed and acceleration. These measurements need to be within the ideal range for the test to be validated.

RapidScreen testing vans are stationed at varying roadside locations throughout the Denver Metro area. In an effort to reach as many drivers as possible, the vans change their locations regularly. To stay up-to-date on when and where a RapidScreen testing van will be near you, be sure to visit our Van Locations page.

To meet RapidScreen’s qualifications, your vehicle must record two clean readings within a ten-month window. That window includes each of the twelve months prior to your registration renewal month, with the exception of the final two months. For example, if your renewal month is June, the cutoff date for passing your emissions test via RapidScreen is April 1.

Remember that unless there is a change of ownership, a vehicle is exempt from emissions testing in its first four model years. Read More >

Since it takes two clean readings to meet RapidScreen qualifications, and because adverse weather and road conditions may cause any given test to result in an invalid reading, it’s a good idea to drive by the RapidScreen testing vans several times within your ten-month window. However, only one reading per test site, per day will be accepted.

No. To be eligible for the benefits of RapidScreen, a vehicle must be gasoline-powered, of the model year 1982 or newer and registered in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson, Larimer, or Weld counties. Vehicles that are not eligible for RapidScreen include models made in 1981 or earlier, diesel-powered or alternative fuel vehicles, government vehicles, vehicles with outstanding emissions failures, or any vehicle weighing more than 10,000 pounds.