Bexar County Drivers Face a New Step Sunday: Emissions Testing Begins Nov. 1 for Registration Renewals
Bexar becomes Texas' 18th emissions-testing county — and drivers who renew by Saturday can skip the new test for this cycle.
Starting Sunday, Nov. 1, gasoline-powered vehicles that are 2 through 24 model years old and registered in Bexar County must pass an emissions test before registration or renewal, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety, making Bexar the state's 18th county to require the testing, the San Antonio Express-News reported. Drivers with valid registrations do not need a test until renewal time, and the test must be completed within the 90-day renewal window.
There is a way to defer it once. Bexar County Tax Assessor-Collector Albert Uresti's office said motorists renewing in October, November or December can renew without the new test if they do so by Saturday, Oct. 31 — at county tax offices through Friday, Oct. 30, and at participating private title companies on Saturday, the Express-News reported. The emissions test itself is an on-board diagnostics check that connects to a vehicle's computer to read its emissions systems and trouble codes — different from the comprehensive safety inspection Texas ended for most noncommercial vehicles in 2025. Electric vehicles, diesel vehicles, motorcycles and mopeds are exempt, according to DPS. Inspection stations are already rehearsing: the Express-News photographed a mock emissions test for new hires on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at the Official Inspection Station on Culebra Road.
The requirement is arriving despite a push to stop it. City, county and state representatives have asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to pause the inspections in San Antonio, and as of Wednesday no decision had been finalized, the Express-News reported; KABB reported the same day that Bexar County leaders are pushing to halt the requirement ahead of the Nov. 1 deadline. Unless a pause lands before Sunday, the desk's guidance for drivers is the DPS rule above: check your renewal month, and if it falls in October, November or December and you want this cycle without the test, renew by Saturday.
