The Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a settlement agreement with COBB Tuning Products to resolve claims relating to the manufacture and sale of automotive emission defeat devices in violation of the Clean Air Act.
The settlement requires COBB to pay a civil penalty of just over $2.9 million, based on the company’s limited ability to pay, and to stop the manufacture and sale of defeat devices.
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COBB is an automotive aftermarket parts manufacturer and retailer based in Austin, Texas, which formerly sold its parts in Plano, Texas; Portland, Oregon; and Fountain Valley, California. In the complaint filed with the settlement agreement, COBB is alleged to have manufactured and sold defeat devices prohibited under the Clean Air Act that, when installed, bypass or disable EPA-approved emission controls and harm air quality.
“COBB created software that allowed users to disable emissions controls, increasing pollution and violating the law,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “We are committed to enforcing the Clean Air Act, which remains one of our most important tools in helping to secure and maintain a clean environment.”
COBB manufactured or sold over 90,000 of these aftermarket defeat devices since January 2015. COBB’s actions resulted in substantial excess emissions of nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide.
The settlement requires the company to stop manufacturing and selling aftermarket defeat devices. COBB may continue to sell tuners and software tunes which the California Air Resources Board determined do not increase emissions above allowable levels. This enforcement action will prevent additional excess emissions that would have resulted from the continued sale of these illegal products.
In addition to requiring COBB to pay a civil penalty of more than $2.9 million, the settlement agreement requires the company to:
- Remove delete features from its software
- Destroy violative products still in its inventory
- Cease providing technical support or honoring warranty claims for previously sold violative products
- Revise its marketing materials
- Notify the customers that purchased the subject parts that the products at issue violate the Clean Air Act
- Conduct compliance training for its employees and contractors
Defeat devices, which are often sold to enhance engine performance, work by disabling a vehicle’s emission controls, causing air pollution. As a result of enforcement efforts, some of the largest manufacturers of defeat devices have agreed to pay penalties and stop the sale of defeat devices.
The proposed consent decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, is subject to a 30-day comment period and final court approval. The EPA investigated the case.
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