“The main reason I decided to unload my truck was purely financial,” they explain. “I had cracked a piston ring that required a complete overhaul of my engine. During disassembly, an EGR main component broke. The cost of repair and replacement exceeded the cost of extinguishing and the mechanic encouraged me to do so. Since I knew exhaust filters can get clogged and it can be quite annoying and expensive, I decided to turn them off. Both diesel shops have previously pleaded guilty to conspiring with a Colorado diesel store identified as “E.D.” to disable software programming for vehicle on-board diagnostic (“OBD”) systems, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371. The diesel workshops have removed emission controls on vehicles and asked E.D. deactivate OBD systems so that they no longer detect malfunctions of exhaust gas cleaning systems, so that vehicles can apparently operate normally. This manipulation allowed vehicle owners to avoid maintenance costs.

However, by eliminating emission controls, vehicles release tons of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, non-methane hydrocarbons and excess particulate matter. Excessive pollution is particularly high because Class 8 vehicles are the heaviest class of vehicles and contain the semi-trailer tractors that have been tampered with in this case. These toxic pollutants contribute to high levels of ozone and smog and pose a threat to public health. Kory Willis is the founder and principal tuner of PPEI, one of the best-known diesel performance outlets in the United States. He made a name for himself and his company — especially on the GM Duramax scene — with record-breaking performances and quarter-mile times. He also faces $3.1 million in fines and civil penalties for violating the Clean Air Act. Denver – The Colorado County U.S. Attorney`s Office announces that Pro Diesel Inc. and Endrizzi Diesel, LLC were convicted this month of conspiring with a Colorado-based diesel company to manipulate computers that monitor emission control systems for Class 8 commercial vehicles. The result was a legal settlement that cost Volkswagen more than $20 billion in the U.S. alone, including criminal and civil penalties and investments in emissions-reducing projects across the country.

In June 2020, a federal appeals court ruled that U.S. cities can also sue VW for violating local environmental laws, exposing them to many other claims. Tuners that connect to a vehicle install software known as “tunes,” which changes the way a vehicle`s computer regulates emission levels. Physical equipment can be installed in a vehicle`s engine or exhaust system, such as “fire extinguishing pipes,” hollow pipes that bypass or replace equipment with sensitive filters. The threat of millions of dollars in fines and possible jail time will shock everyone. In the future, we probably won`t see ads from tuning companies that are openly removed. But for those who still work on a silent and unquestioned basis, it may only be a matter of time before their name is affixed to the end of a document that says, “The United States of America vs…” Invoking the Clean Air Act, the EPA actively and severely penalizes diesel companies for manufacturing, selling, and installing components that increase exhaust pollutants. While some believe the agency serves a long-delayed justice system for breaking the law, others see it as a transgression by the government to the nth degree. After discussions with a handful of industry sources, including the EPA itself, there doesn`t seem to be a clear solution yet.

Two Michigan-based diesel tuning companies are facing $10 million in civil penalties for their involvement in manufacturing, selling and distributing diesel emissions defeat devices, a huge strike imposed against the U.S. Clean Air Act. Diesel Ops LLC and Orion Diesel LLC allegedly violated the Clean Air Act by involving diesel emissions defeat devices in them. writes The Oakland Press, with the August 29, 2022 indictment related to violations first reported in December 2021. This was the first violation of the invalidation scheme that the EPA was pursuing as a criminal case rather than a civil action. A few decades earlier, in 1998, the EPA had left after similar violations by seven major manufacturers of heavy-duty diesel engines, including Caterpillar and Mack Trucks. In the end, without admitting wrongdoing, the manufacturers agreed to pay a total of $1 billion in fines and investments to build clean engines and reduce nitrogen oxide pollution. Any diesel guru worth his salt, which undeniably includes Willis, will tell you that the smoke coming out of the exhaust is a waste of power. However, banks have never taken the approach of selling extinguishing kits or anything that helps a modern truck drive en masse without emission equipment. In fact, when I ask him about the handful of products on his company`s website that are “49-state compliant, CA in progress,” he says it`s “only because California is so slow” to issue certifications.

David Sparks, a body shop owner featured in “Diesel Brothers” who is one of the defendants in the lawsuit, did not respond to requests for comment. “Would I do it again? Maybe,” says the owner. “While I appreciate the increase in power and mpg, my wife despises the increase in diesel exhaust (they are almost non-existent in an unexploded truck). If it had been a newer or less powerful truck, I probably wouldn`t have chosen to turn it off. In 2017, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment filed the first civil lawsuit against companies that sell defeat devices. The law allows individuals to sue to enforce emission standards. Their targets were body shops, which were featured on “Diesel Brothers”. Simply put, Banks doesn`t see the CARB regulations as a death sentence for diesel tuning. It will take a lot more finesse than removing the DPF and everything else, but he sees his work as proof that great energy can be produced with emission systems still in place. It`s just helpful to have decades of first-hand experience, not to mention the financial situation that comes with it. Not all the big names in diesel tuning in the aftermarket feel at odds with the government. Gale Banks has operated Banks Power in California for more than half a century.

In 1978, it loaded its first diesel engine and has since built high-performance compression-ignition power plants every year that do not blow black smoke. He was also instrumental in negotiations with CARB to create California vehicle code 27156, which went into effect in 1990 after 10 years of negotiations. For Hines, it was deeply embarrassing and frustrating to be called an offender after 15 years in the diesel industry without incident. In July 2015, the EPA received anonymous information that a Florida company called Punch It Performance and Tuning manufactures and sells defeat devices for diesel trucks, including straight hoses and melodies. After reviewing the company`s sales records, the EPA found that Punch It and its president, Paul Schimmack, had committed thousands of Clean Air Law violations. EPA, Edge Products charged $500,000 for DPF violations: EPA, Edge Products, a manufacturer of electronic power modules for diesel engines, was fined $500,000 for manufacturing and selling electronic equipment allowing Chevrolet owners to perform GMC, Ford and Dodge/Ram diesel pickup trucks (2007 and later) to perform DPF removal. You can always try to rebuild DPF yourself before moving on to DPF removal. Otherwise, there are upgrades in the workbenches that do this and are DPF compatible. Here`s the specific EPA fine if you`re caught with DPF: The goal is to increase the power of your diesel engine and get extra power without altering the DPF. For one, defeat devices can be easily sold in physical stores and online, including on popular platforms like eBay.

This has prompted some public health advocates to take their own lawsuits under the Clean Air Act. They targeted the body shops featured on the popular Discovery Channel show “Diesel Brothers,” where some mechanics made huge diesel trucks with names like BroDozer and Truck Norris. A representative of Discovery declined to comment. Court documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice claim PPEI sold 59,135 suppression tunes or tuners with erasure melodies between 2013 and 2018. These are just a few of the points the EPA complains about, citing 324 product offerings as violated. The report includes state- and county-level findings based on a review of more than 150,000 one-time invoices that include optimizing removal or hardware. These invoices cover the sale of discontinued parts in all 50 states and about 83% of counties in the United States. Evidence also shows that about 50% of manipulations occur when vehicles are three years old or younger, and more than 85% of manipulations take place at the age of eight. There is also at least one offer for a removal kit on Facebook`s marketplace platform that will remain active for days after FairWarning informs the company of the illegal product for sale.