Yahoo Autos Cobb Tuning Hit With $2.9 Million Fine Over Defeat Devices
Cobb Tuning Products, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Department of Justice have announced a settlement to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act stemming from the sale of aftermarket defeat devices for factory emissions systems. According to the September 16 announcement, Cobb Tuning must stop the manufacture and sale of these popular aftermarket products, and must pay a civil penalty of $2,914,000 for its role in the distribution of said parts.
The EPA alleges that Cobb Tuning produced and sold more than 81,000 tuners capable of disabling factory emissions controls or altering engine performance since 205. The agency also states that Cobb facilitated the sale of 8400 replacement exhaust pipes, which either contained fewer catalysts than the respective stock units or utilized less effective aftermarket catalysts. Cobb continues to assert that it did not develop or market the aforementioned products as emissions defeat devices.
According to the settlement, Cobb Tuning may only provide customers with ECU tuners and software that have undergone the proper engineer evaluations to determine that the products do not allow a vehicle to emit more emissions than originally intended from the factory. All products must also obtain an executive order from the California Air Resources Board (CARB), whose standards have been adopted in 17 states.
Cobb must also take steps to limit the possibility of future violations of the Clean Air Act, following strict guidelines laid out by the agency. Among the guidelines, Cobb will be required to:
Remove any delete features from its custom tuning software and, to the extent possible, force updates to end-users to remove the delete features
Destroy any defeat devices remaining in its possession
Cease providing technical support for any defeat device products
Deny all warranty claims for any defeat device products
Require Cobb Tuning to offer to buy back any defeat devices possessed by Cobb Tuning’s employees, which Cobb Tuning must then destroy
Conduct a Clean Air Act compliance training for Cobb Tuning’s officers, employees, contractors, and consultants
Revise all marketing materials to strike any information relating to replacing, defeating, bypassing, or rendering inoperative any emission control
Notify authorized dealers and known customers of any defeat device products of the settlement using specified language that informs the authorized dealers and known customers that the products at issue violate the Clean Air Act
Cobb’s civil penalty of $2,914,000, plus interest, is set to be paid in four installments over the next three years. The settlement amount was determined due to the company's inability to shoulder a higher payment.
Signs of potential litigation from the EPA have circled Cobb since 2022, when the brand rolled out its Project Green Speed initiative. At the time, the EPA placed a major focus on aftermarket companies and emissions regulations as part of a now-expired National Compliance Initiative. Several other tuners were hit with large penalties for their role in the distribution of those parts.
While Cobb maintains there was a lack of EPA pressure in 2022, the tuning company severely restricted customer access to its Accesstuner software, limiting the scope of the possible tuning adjustments as part of that project. The brand also discontinued support for a number of other components at the time, with little public explanation. Those changes have remained in place in the years since, and the brand has confirmed that the settlement will not have any impact on Cobb’s current offerings.
In a statement, Cobb Tuning states that it does not admit to any liability related to any of the allegations in the complaint by the EPA.
“We are proud of the leadership position that Cobb Tuning has established providing emissions certified performance packages to the automotive enthusiast,” Cobb Tuning President and CEO Jeff King said in the statement.
“We proactively started our Green Speed initiative with the goal of developing market leading, fully emissions certified performance solutions for our enthusiasts’ customers and their vehicles long before EPA contacted us about their concerns regarding how certain Cobb products could be used – in an unintended manner –to sidestep vehicle emissions requirements. We have proactively worked with EPA to address these concerns and view this settlement as a next step in our Green Speed initiative.”
The statement concludes with the acknowledgement that all Cobb products currently on offer are backed by CARB validation.
“We always focused our decision-making process on implementing changes in a way that had the best interests of our enthusiast customers, distribution partners, and the environment in mind,” said King. “Sometimes those were tough choices, which required immediate action in order to address EPA concerns. I am pleased to report that those product changes are behind us, and both our customers and distribution partners can be confident purchasing Cobb products. Our entire product line is fully emissions compliant.”
With the previous set of National Compliance Initiatives now in the past, these sort of cases are likely to slow down. Of course these investigations take time, and we could still see other large tuners facing some penalties for their product lines. The EPA is aware of how customers have used these products in the past, and are sure to keep a close eye on any potential workarounds.
The settlement, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, is subject to a 30-day public comment period before court approval. Information on submitting comment and access to the settlement agreement is available at the link provided here.
You Might Also Like
