Catalytic converters are required for any gasoline-powered vehicle. This component oversees filtering away the harmful emissions produced by the vehicle, allowing the emissions to be safe to breathe. It accomplishes this by catalyzing the hazardous compounds that pass through the exhaust system with precious metals such as platinum, palladium, and rhodium. Without catalytic converters, the toxicity in the air would be extremely harmful to the environment and each other.

Now that we’ve discussed how important a catalytic converter is, it’s critical to have the right one designed for your vehicle. The reason for this is that each car operates differently. Your car’s toxicity level may be higher than another’s depending on how the inner components are structured. This would require the use of a catalytic converter with a different precious metal loading. For example, because hybrid vehicles switch from gas to electric, the catalytic converter requires more precious metals. This switch indicates that the catalytic converter is operating at a temperature different from that of a fully gasoline-powered vehicle. This is known as the “light off” temperature, and because the catalytic converter operates at a lower temperature, hybrid vehicles will require more precious metals to compensate.

As previously stated, each car requires a catalytic converter that is specific to the make and model of that vehicle. There are several reasons for this, including the precious metal loadings required. You cannot use a catalytic converter that was specifically designed for use on another vehicle. There are universal catalytic converters that can be installed on almost any vehicle if the inlet and outlet tubes on the converter and the exhaust system are the same diameter.

The EPA has prohibited the re-use of used catalytic converters as replacement converters in the United States. The only legitimate reason to buy a used catalytic converter is to recycle it so that the precious metals can be extracted and returned to the automotive circular economy, which we are proud to do as noble6 your automotive precious metals experts.