Catalytic Converters Notice when a vehicle drives by nowadays, that it is so much quieter than those loud oldies that pour out the blue smoke. Ever wonder just what is underneath a vehicle that makes the new ones so much cleaner. It is called a catalytic converter. The main function of a catalytic converter is to decrease pollution emitted from a vehicles exhaust. The concept behind this is to add a catalyst and force a reaction between the automobile's exhaust and oxygen in the converter. To see just how this happens let's look inside of a catalytic converter. A catalytic converter is made up mainly of a mufflerlike chamber which contains porous, heat-resistant materia