A new report from Road & Track notes that the EPA and COBB Tuning have announced a settlement to resolve the tuner’s violations of the Clean Air Act. The violations came from the brand selling aftermarket devices to help defeat emission systems in various makes and models.
The resolution announced on Sept. 16 demands the tuner will stop production and sales of the devices and pay $2.9 million in civil penalties, according to the news site.
COBB notes that it has been aware of the agreement for a few months and the settlement will not affect Accessport functionality or its product catalog, the report states.
Since January 2015, the brand had sold over 90,000 emissions defeat devices and 8,400 aftermarket exhaust systems that targeted three-way catalysts which were not as effective as OEM emission systems, according to the settlement.
Following the agreement, the EPA released a list of demands that will ensure Cobb products meet the California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulations, which have been adopted in 17 states.
Back in 2022, COBB announced its Green Speed initiative that took steps to self-regulate emissions compliancy, as the brand notes that EPA regulations for aftermarket tuners was more lax up until 2022, according to Road & Track.
“As a company, we take our emissions stewardship seriously, and proactively addressed in real time each area of concern that the EPA identified with how some of our legacy products could be used in an unintended manner. We had to make difficult choices along the way regarding how and when to make changes to or discontinue certain products that the EPA identified as concerning. We 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. 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.” said Jeff King, COBB CEO.
The tuner is also expected to takes steps to limit the possibility of future violations by destroying defeat devices still in circulation, deny warranty claims for the the defeat devices and requirements to buy back defeat devices.
The settlement is subject to a 30-day public comment period before court approval. To submit comments, click here. To read the full report from Road & Track, click here.
