Distillusion
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- Jul 23, 2019
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If you haven't seen it in the news recently, the EPA just completed a study on diesel truck emissions. The study covered medium and heavy duty trucks, 8,500 - 14,000 lb GVWR. The investigation is fallout from the 2015 VW Dieselgate.
Findings published indicate that over half a million tons of excess N2O and thousands of tons of particulates are being released into the atmosphere because of owner mods - deletes, tunes, emissions defeat devices. Official estimates are that 557,000 pickups in this range have been fitted with emissions defeat devices, and that may not count deletes. Emissions of this half million or so vehicles exceed the emissions of 10 million similar trucks that remain compliant. Texas alone is believed to have over 60,000 of these vehicles.
I've seen articles on these results from 5 different media sources already. It looks like another wave coming, mostly calling for enforcement and punishment. Also some are calling for increased enforcement funds from the federal government to the states.
Normally this sort of thing might slide several years. But politicians love to have something (someone) else to point at and this pandemic has created a lot of anger the pols would love to redirect away from themselves. I wouldn't be surprised to see some changes coming. Probably more emissions tests, bigger fines, or worse. The huge difference from Dieselgate, - the truck makers aren't the problem. It's pretty clear from the report itself that the EIPA considers truck owners as the "culprits." And the media has picked up on that, and is aware that truck owners get some of their tuners and mods from commercial sources.
This may impact some of you down the road. Best of luck.
This is the first article from several days ago about the EPA report.
www.nytimes.com
Findings published indicate that over half a million tons of excess N2O and thousands of tons of particulates are being released into the atmosphere because of owner mods - deletes, tunes, emissions defeat devices. Official estimates are that 557,000 pickups in this range have been fitted with emissions defeat devices, and that may not count deletes. Emissions of this half million or so vehicles exceed the emissions of 10 million similar trucks that remain compliant. Texas alone is believed to have over 60,000 of these vehicles.
I've seen articles on these results from 5 different media sources already. It looks like another wave coming, mostly calling for enforcement and punishment. Also some are calling for increased enforcement funds from the federal government to the states.
Normally this sort of thing might slide several years. But politicians love to have something (someone) else to point at and this pandemic has created a lot of anger the pols would love to redirect away from themselves. I wouldn't be surprised to see some changes coming. Probably more emissions tests, bigger fines, or worse. The huge difference from Dieselgate, - the truck makers aren't the problem. It's pretty clear from the report itself that the EIPA considers truck owners as the "culprits." And the media has picked up on that, and is aware that truck owners get some of their tuners and mods from commercial sources.
This may impact some of you down the road. Best of luck.
This is the first article from several days ago about the EPA report.
Illegal Tampering by Diesel Pickup Owners Is Worsening Pollution, E.P.A. Says (Published 2020)
An E.P.A. investigation has found that the owners of more than half a million diesel pickup trucks have installed devices to defeat emissions controls and boost pollution.
