Posted on 12/22/2023 12:37:23 PM PST by Yo-Yo
It’s the largest Clean Air Act violation settlement in history.
Diesel engine manufacturer Cummins has agreed to settle an accused violation of the Clean Air Act for a record $1.675 billion. The company was accused of installing defeat devices and other "undisclosed" emissions equipment on almost a million engines used in Ram pickups, allowing the release of thousands of tons of harmful nitric oxides.
The settlement, announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice, concerns the emissions equipment used on 960,000 diesel engines used on Ram 2500 and 3500 heavy-duty pickups between model years 2013 and 2023. They share the 6.7-liter Cummins ISB turbo inline-six, 630,000 of which were fitted with defeat devices through 2019. A further 330,000 built from 2019 onward were also fitted with "undisclosed auxiliary emission control devices" that are also part of the settlement.
These emissions equipment setups allowed the dissemination, rather than controlled burn, of nitric oxides, or NOX. These compounds play a role in forming acid rain and smog in the environment, and can exacerbate symptoms of asthma, if not cause it outright over a long period. NOX is also linked to a variety of other potentially fatal health problems.
"Vulnerable communities are more likely to reside near highways where these harmful emissions are concentrated, making this agreement critical to advancing our environmental justice agenda," remarked EPA Administrator Michael Regan to Reuters. The publication reports the settlement to be the biggest fine ever issued under the Clean Air Act, and the second-largest environmental penalty deal in history. It would seem to be second only to the mammoth BP Deepwater Horizon settlement, which cost nearly $21 billion.
Cummins, which also supplies Daimler North America and Paccar, said it has been conducting an "internal review" of the situation since 2019. It says it has recalled some affected trucks at the cost of $58 million, and that it expects the settlement to cost if $2.04 billion total. Cummins says it "has seen no evidence that anyone acted in bad faith and does not admit wrongdoing."
However, Cummins' statement also indicates the settlement does not meaningfully impact its business prospects. The company says it "is in a strong financial position with existing liquidity and access to capital to satisfy obligations associated with the settlements, support ongoing operations, and execute its growth strategy." In other words, the fine might hurt its bottom line, but in the end it'll roll right off. It's sometimes said that crimes punishable by fines are only crimes for the poor. Without evidence that Cummins' business has been truly harmed as a consequence of its actions here, it's hard to read things any other way.
Diesel *Knock*!
Diesel KnOcK!...................
Very racist thing your government did.
First they targeted the blacks by going after menthol ciggies.
This is a move against white bros.
All those trucks going to the crusher?
Maybe. But when they claim “thousands of tons” of excess oxides of ntrogen over a period of 10 years and millions of vehicles... how serious could it be ?
Also:
“Technical details about the alleged violations were not provided.”
https://dieselnet.com/news/2023/12cummins.php
My question: what is the fix? I don’t see anything about mandated repair.
Eventually big companies will bail from the U.S. much like the wealthy are fleeing California, and we’ll be left with a nation as vibrant as Eritrea.
I know it’s coming, they’re going to mess with deisel and we’re going to end up with a national emergency. It will probably happen after Biden steals 2024 thanks to the RINOpublican party doing nothing about election integrity, but the demomarxist domestic enemies will have puppet Biden regulate the crap out of deisel and then watch out: Gee whiz, why are all the supermarkets out of food?
“My question: what is the fix? I don’t see anything about mandated repair.”
It’s just probably just another shakedown for money.
I'm sure that the fix is a computer reprogram, like it was for Volkswagen.
Cummins has always been known to be the most reliable diesel engine in a light truck, over Ford's Powerstroke and GM's Duramax.
In the pickup truck world, "Cummins-swapping" into any brand truck is about as popular as "LS-swapping" is in the muscle car world.
Since the least reliable part of Powerstrokes and Duramaxes are their EGR and other pollution control systems, maybe now we know why Cummins diesels in Ram Trucks are so reliable?
Even though this story is about pickup trucks, not semis, you're not wrong.
Kalifornia has already declared war on semi trucks, demanding that all semis driven in California meet California's current emissions standards, regardless of how old the truck is or which state they are licensed in.
And California has voted to ban the sale and registration of any new diesel semis by 2036, and to ban them from California roads entirely by 2042.
My next door neighbor works for Cummings in IT. He telecommutes to India a lot.
Cummings has operations there so they could transfer production. It would help make up the cost of the fine.
Nice going Joe.
I find this hard to believe. I retired from Cummins after 40 years. With about 70,000 employees, this would be too big a secret to keep quiet. I don’t see how this could be a thing that was sponsored by management. There are plenty of aftermarket chips that boost the power and defeat the smog control. Cummins would not have to build this into their controls.
Common statement from Cummins diesel truck owners:
I’m gonna delete that b*tch!
Said in a loving way!!
But you cant sell it to a dealer if you do that.
I’ll let someone else worry about that after I put 400k miles on it!!
Once the diesel truck is out of warranty, they can be modified to increase mileage and avoid using that Blue Def additive. We have sent trucks out of state to be so modified. It isn’t cheap but the initial cost is paid for in increased mileage and no Blue Def needed.
What they don’t say is the fact that they did twice the amount of work per gallon than gasoline engines did.
Eritrea? didn’t Italy invade Eritrea and the league of nations said they couldn’t do a damb thing?
damn, same judge as the Trump trial?
I would tell the EPA to show me THE LAW, that requires me to follow their directives. They are dictators, and there are no Congressional laws passed, gone through the Senate and signed by the President. I would tell them to PACK SAND, or SHI’IT.
Either Santa Claus is real, or millions of adults are in on a conspiracy to fool children around the world...
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