I have warned Car Pro Show listeners about “defeat devices” like these for a number of years. My biggest concern is many of them will allow an engine to perform outside the limits of what the automaker deems as safe. I recall when I was in the Ford business, I had a customer with a new 7.3 Powerstroke diesel. He wanted more horsepower and purchased one of these devices. With 1,200 miles, the engine blew. We towed it in, hooked it up to the computer to Ford to get them to approve a new engine under warranty, and the claim was immediately denied because of the defeat device. As usual, the customer was mad at us, but we were just doing what we had to do.
At www.CobbTuning.com, the company describes one of its products:
THE COBB ACCESSPORT
The Accessport is the world's best-selling, most flexible, and easiest to use ECU upgrade solution for your vehicle. Unlock power hidden within the vehicle by replacing conservative factory settings with more aggressive calibrations for optimum engine performance. Follow our staged upgrade path with pre-loaded Off The Shelf (OTS) maps or use custom mapping for any modification level. It's the last engine management solution you'll ever need
Photo: CobbTuning.com.
It appears the Feds do not like these devices.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Justice Department recently reached an agreement with COBB Tuning Products for Clean Air Act Violations involving the defeat devices. As part of the settlement, COBB is required to stop selling the devices and pay a roughly $2.9 million civil penalty. In a joint statement released last week, the EPA and Justice Department said the settlement agreement with COBB Tuning Products resolves claims "relating to the manufacture and sale of automotive emission defeat devices in violation of the Clean Air Act." COBB will be required to pay a civil penalty of just over $2.9 million, based on the company’s "limited ability to pay". The settlement agreement will also require the company to "stop the manufacture and sale of defeat devices."
Austin-based COBB is an automotive aftermarket parts manufacturer and retailer. The U.S. government says the company formerly sold its parts in Plano, Texas; Portland, Oregon; and Fountain Valley, California. The EPA and Justice Department announcement reads: "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."
On its website, Cobb states this about the settlement:
This announcement is a formality. Changes that we’ve been required to make have been made for some time. Nothing is changing with the Accessport, Accessport functionality, or our product catalog. We’re excited to move forward and focus on the development of both existing and future platforms.
In the U.S. Government's announcement last week, U.S. officials stated:
“Defeat devices significantly increase air pollution from motor vehicles, particularly in communities that already are overburdened by pollution,” said Assistant Administrator David M. Uhlmann of EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Use of illegal defeat devices has gone on for far too long. EPA will use all of its enforcement tools to hold polluters like COBB Tuning accountable until these illegal practices stop.”
“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.”
Federal officials say COBB manufactured or sold over 90,000 of these aftermarket defeat devices since January 2015 and that COBB’s actions "resulted in substantial excess emissions of nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide."
COBB's settlement with the EPA and U.S. Justice Department requires the company to stop manufacturing and selling aftermarket defeat devices. Under the agreement, COBB may continue to sell tuners and software tunes which the California Air Resources Board (CARB) determined do not increase emissions above allowable levels. U.S. officials say this enforcement action "will prevent additional excess emissions that would have resulted from the continued sale of these illegal products."
The settlement also requires COBB to do number of other things:
- 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.
To read the EPA press release click here.
Photo Credit: MIND AND I/Shutterstock.com.
