According to a press release and accompanying complaint and settlement, the Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reached an agreement with a company that makes devices to circumvent emissions controls on diesel automobiles. The company, Xtreme Diesel Performance, will be required to halt the manufacture of the defeat devices that purportedly violate the Clean Air Act, as well as pay a fine of over $1 million.
The press release says that 27,000 of the devices, which are made for pickup trucks, were made from 2015 to 2017. “As a result of XDP’s actions, thousands of diesel pickup trucks now operate without filters, catalysts, and other essential emissions controls harming our nation’s air quality,” Larry Staffel, Acting Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said.
Under the deal, Xtreme Diesel must also destroy devices still in inventory and no longer provide support for the devices already sold. They must also issue a notice to customers and undergo a training for their staff. According to the EPA, the devices resulted in an excess of 12 million pounds in nitrogen oxide emissions.
The devices, court documents state, are designed to circumvent the Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) systems, often found on diesel engines. Those systems reduce emissions by recycling exhaust back through the engine, reducing combustion temperature and nitrogen oxide output. The complaint also highlighted Aftertreatment Delete products, purportedly designed to circumvent a broad category of emissions control systems installed on exhaust mechanisms. A third category of device identified by the government contains items designed to override software calibrations that are designed to reduce emissions.
