When I was looking at Scions, nearly all dealers offered an AEM CAI for the xA. Now, they are no longer listed. My dealer gives me a vague reference about them not meeting new emissions standards. Is this BS or what? AEM only lists one for the xB & tC. WTF?

 

Basically it means toyota has been unable to get their intakes CARB certified. and if its not CARB certified, well then its not legal in all 50 states, thus toyota would not sell them.

an intake has to be recertified for every new model year of the car, regardless of whether or not there have been any changes in design.

Because cali revised their standards (or i'm assuming they did), it is entirely possible that Toyota/Scion is now unable to get their intake certified. However, it is also equally possible, that Scion has decided that the piece is really isn't that great, and simply decided not to bother with getting it retested.

The AEM site only lists intakes for the tc and xb b/c those are entirely different intakes from the dealer intakes. The story goes that AEM was most likely limited by toyota's strict specifications and thus could not design as good of an intake as they wanted. So after the dust settled, AEM redeisgned their intake for the xB into one that is L-shaped. However, the dimensions of the piece only allow it to fit the xB (having an intake which fit both cars most likely was one of the specifications toyota demanded). Not sure what that story is on the tc side of things, but i'm sure its relatively similiar.

Anyhow, I really don't see why you are complaining. The dealer intakes were overpriced (especially if dealer installed)and underperforming. Just get any one of the numerous aftermarket brands for your car. I'd look at the K&N SR/CAI intake.

Also if you really want, you can still buy the intake... just buy for 04 or 05 model year

 

Thanks, you bring up some good points. My reason for prefering dealer carried product & installation of aftermarket goodies are primarely that my health won't allow me to twist a wrench anymore and I'm getting tooo old to hassle with some snot nosed service rep about warrenty issues when something I got installed f**ks up. The only thing about those "golden years" is that it takes "gold" to get stuff done that you always did yourself.

I will investigate the K&N SR/CAI intake, but I may wait a while and see what develops with AEM. Thanks again.