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Tips -- EPA's Transportation and Air Quality Document Index System (DIS)
- Standard Search Tips
- Advanced Search Tips
- Guidance Letters Search Tips
- Advisory Circular Search Tips and Search Results Explanation
- Acronyms for Keyword Searches
- Search Results Explanation
- Glossary
Standard Search Tips:
Enter a value into as many of the search fields as desired. If you do not want to limit your search to a certain value of the field, leave the field blank.
To search for information by topic, type in that topic in the keyword field. List several words for a more precise search. Only records that contain ALL the words you type will be displayed.
If you want to search on a particular keyword, but you want the search results to be broad, search on that keyword and leave the other fields blank or set to ALL. If you want to search on a particular keyword, but you want the search results to be narrow, search on that keyword, but also complete and/or select as many fields as desired.
To search for documents that have been added to the web site on or after a particular date enter that date in the “Document Date on or after” field.
Advanced Search Tips:
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Advanced search includes the following additional search fields: engine displacement, emission control system, test group/engine family, and number of cylinders.
You can search for either a range of Engine Displacement values or a specific Engine Displacement value. To search for a specific Engine Displacement value, enter that value in either the 'from' or 'to' Engine Displacement fields.
Entering the test group is the most efficient way to narrow search results. The test group is a 12-digit ID number that can be found on the underhood emission label of every vehicle.
To search for documents that have been added to the web site on or after a particular date enter that date in the “Document Date on or after” field.
Guidance Letters Search Tips:
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If you enter keyword "2006-" (year followed by a hyphen) your search results will return letters issued for that particular calendar year.
If you enter keyword "2006" (year without a hyphen) your search results will return all letters for that calendar year and all letters with that year listed in the title, abstract or list of keywords.
If you enter "LD 2006-" (industry abbreviation before the calendar year, followed by a hyphen) your search results will return guidance letters that were sent to light-duty manufacturers (or whatever industry you entered) for that calendar year.
Advisory Circulars Search Tips and Search Results Explanation:
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If you enter a year as a keyword, such as "1980" (year without a hyphen), this will return all Advisory Circulars with that year listed in the title, abstract or list of keywords.
Advisory Circulars search results are listed in order by the publication number, not by calendar year or model year.
Acronyms for Keyword Searches:
The following is a list of popular acronyms and their full text equivalents. When searching on these words, you should use the acronym in your keyword searches.
- AFC - Alternative Fuel Converter
- AFV - Alternative Fuel Vehicle
- ATV - All Terrain Vehicle
- HD - Heavy-Duty
- HDV - Heavy-Duty Vehicle
- HDE - Heavy-Duty Engine
- HDG - Heavy-Duty Gas
- HDGE - Heavy-Duty Gas Engine
- HDDE - Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine
- HWY - Highway Vehicles
- ICI - Independent Commercial Importer
- IMO - International Maritime Organization
- LD - Light-Duty
- LDV - Light-Duty Vehicle
- LDT - Light-Duty Truck
- LOCO - Locomotive
- MC - Motorcycle
- MDPV - Medium-Duty Passenger Vehicle
- MDV - Medium-Duty Vehicle
- NR - Nonroad
- NRCI - Nonroad Compression Ignition
- OFMC - Off Road Motorcycle
- SM - Small Volume
- SVM - Small Volume Manufacturer
Search Results Explanation
Search results will return up to 1000 records. To limit the size of the search results, be as specific as possible when selecting the search criteria.
The search results contain the following information about each document:
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Description - This includes the document title, abstract and other important information about each document.
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Title - The title that is displayed in the search results may be truncated. To see the full title, view or download the document.
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Abstract - The abstract that is displayed in the search results may be truncated. Whenever abstract is searched upon, the entire abstract is queried.
Topic - This is the document type (for example, certificate of conformity, certification, application, etc.).
Size/Link - This denotes the size of the document in bytes and the various file format(s) for viewing or downloading the document.
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Related Documents - Under the column for Related Documents you will either see: N/A or a link to Emission Compliance Info. N/A means there are no documents that are related to your initial search. A link to Emission Compliance Info. means there are documents that are related to your initial search. If you click on the link for Emission Compliance Info., a new search will be generated and you will receive a new set of search results. Those new search results will return documents that are very closely related to the document in your initial search.
If your search results don't display the word(s) you searched on, that doesn't mean that the search results are incorrect, it may just mean that the word you searched on is somewhere else in the metadata (the data about the document) other than in the title, abstract or topic.
Glossary:
Document Date on or after - If you enter a date, your search results will show you all the documents with that date and all the documents after that date.
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Emission Control System - These are devices that help decrease the emissions of a vehicle or engine.
Engine Displacement - The size of an engine in liters, cubic inches, or cubic centimeters.
Industry - The category of vehicle or engine (for example, Cars and Light Trucks, …).
Manufacturer - The name of the company that certified a particular vehicle or engine.
Vehicle Model - This is the name of a specific vehicle or engine.
Number of Cylinders - The number of cylinders in a particular engine.
Test Group/Engine Family - This is a 12-digit ID number that can be found on the underhood emission label of every vehicle.
Topic - The document type (for example, certificate of conformity, certification application, etc).
Keyword - A keyword search will generate a search from a variety of fields, including document title and abstract.