[huberoy123]

The EPA and Department of Justice have reached a settlement with Derive Systems, maker of "Bully Dog" and "SCT" tuning software, over the manufacturing of emissions defeat devices found to be in violation of the Clean Air Act. Derive will have to pay a fine of $300,00 on top of spending $6.25 million to bring the company and its tuning products up to standards.
The EPA stated that Derive sold products for multiple years that could be used to change the engine tuning on gasoline and diesel cars and trucks. The engine tuners sold by Derive allowed owners to access and overwrite the vehicles stock software, which could be used to defeat emissions controls such as diesel particulate filters, exhaust gas recirculation, catalytic converters, and other systems.
The EPA put other tuning companies on notice in their settlement as well. Susan Bodine, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance said: “Manufacturers and sellers of automotive emissions control defeat devices should stand up and take notice of this settlement. EPA will protect air quality by vigorously enforcing the Clean Air Act’s prohibition on these devices.”

 

[Old Goat Ninja]

I saw this yesterday. It was just a matter of time. EPA has been trying to shut down the aftermarket for awhile. SEMA fought back and stopped a lot of it, but looks like EPA is finding other ways to shut it down. It's just a matter of time before only OEM cars are legal.

 

[Beechkid]

IIRR, Bullydog was nailed years ago for the same thing (defeating smog control devices) causing the company to be sold...………and apparently the current owners didn't learn a thing....and they have had issues with their tunes corrupting ecm's to the point the owners had to buy new units...at their expense.


(Washington, DC - January 17, 2013) - In a settlement with the UnitedStates on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, automotiveelectronics manufacturer Edge Products LLC (Edge) has agreed to pay a $500,000civil penalty for manufacturing and selling electronic devices that allowedowners of model year 2007 and later diesel pickup trucks to remove emissioncontrols from their vehicles.

Violations


Federal law prohibits any vehicle or engine from being sold in the UnitedStates unless it is covered by a valid, EPA-issued certificate of conformityindicating that the vehicle or engine meets applicable federal emissionstandards. The law further prohibits anyone from manufacturing or selling anypart that defeats or bypasses the emission controls that are used to meet thestandards. EPA sets different emission standards for different types ofvehicles and engines.


Between January 2009 and April 2011, Edge manufacturedand sold a variety of electronic devices intended for use with model year 2007and later GM, Ford, and Dodge diesel pickup trucks, which allowed users toreprogram a truck’s computer so that the check engine light would notilluminate and the vehicle would continue to run even after the DPF had beencompletely removed. In total, Edge sold more than 9,000 of these productsnationwide under the Edge Racing brand name. In doing so, Edge violated theprovisions of Title II of the Clean Air Act (CAA), which prohibit themanufacture and sale of parts or components that defeat or bypass an emissioncontrol device that is installed on a motor vehicle.
EPA estimates that the illegal devices sold by Edge willresult in 158 tons of excess PM emissions. This is equivalent to the emissionsfrom 422 new long-haul semi trucks operating for a period of 29 years.

Injunctive Relief


The settlement requires Edge to do the following:

1. Offer to buy back the illegal devices from anyone who possesses one. In order to sell a device back to Edge, the truck from which the device came must be returned to its original factory programming; and


2. Spend at least $157,600 to fund an emission mitigation project to offset the excess PM emissions resulting from the use of its devices. The funds provided by Edge will be offered as rebates to individuals who own old wood-burning stoves and who wish to replace them with cleaner burning appliances such as new pellet stoves or EPA-certified wood stoves in selected geographic areas with severe PM pollution. The rebate program will be implemented by an independent third party selected solely by Edge. Further details about the rebate program, including eligibility requirements, will be available after the third party has been selected.


Civil Penalty


Edge will pay a penalty of $500,000. This amount was reduced substantiallyin light of Edge’s current financial condition (was looking at bankruptcy).

 

[bl817]

so does this mean that if you do a firmware update for said programmer, that the new firmware will not allow emission changes to take place? even if your tune is written to do so? I have not updated my SCT 3015 in over a year. ive been meaning to so that I can data log with the live wire software. I have Brenspeed 89,91 and 93 tunes but nothing pertaining to the emissions, unless you count the CMDP. just something to think about I guess.

 

[MasterX]

They can suck it. Im sure in time the software and hardware for accessing the ECMs will come along in the open source variety, and then they wont have a company to chew for it. Im astonished it hasn't happened already....probably due to the vendors being tight lipped on their software.

Just like my gun collection, they can have my handheld tuner, and vehicle mods when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.

 

[Bullitt95]

As long as your vehicle still has street legal functional emissions hardware, it doesn't matter if your ECU has been tuned or not.
The problem arises if the cats or the EGR (if originally fitted) have either been removed or tampered with, and the ECU reprogrammed accordingly to disable the CEL. Same probably goes for the evap. system as well. As for the CMCVs, there's no firm proof that they actually reduce emissions (Ford claims they reduce them on cold start up) so that's probably a grey area.
In the future it may become illegal in all states (not just CA) to install headers that require relocation of the cats away from their stock position. In effect only shorty headers would be street legal, and long tube headers
would be designated for "off-road use only". Even aftermarket catted midpipes would be illegal if the cats are downstream from their original location.

 

[Bradmxz]

So what does this buy back deal mean? I have a bully dog for my truck. If it’s gonna be illegal for me to use it I’d definitely want my money back

 

[Bradmxz]

“and they have had issues with their tunes corrupting ecm's to the point the owners had to buy new units...at their expense.”

This is the exact reason I would sell mine back in a heartbeat. The tuner caused me nothing but trouble.

 

[MasterX]

“and they have had issues with their tunes corrupting ecm's to the point the owners had to buy new units...at their expense.”

This is the exact reason I would sell mine back in a heartbeat. The tuner caused me nothing but trouble.

There are a few exceptions where tuners may have been defective, but in general they dont corrupt things, at least my SCT Handhelds never have, and i have had 3 of them, and used them on 4 different vehicles now with 3 different tuning vendors.

Now if you dont CAREFULLY, read the directions, and accidentally turn off the key mid tune, or the cable isnt securely connected, or god forbid, you accidentally unplug it while loading a tune, well, you have just shot yourself in the foot there. Though i will also say interestingly enough, on my 2004 frankenstein build i had such a mishap occur in which i was waiting for a tune to finish loading, and while fiddling with untangling my keychain i did turn the ignition off about mid way through the second stage, where it was pushing the new tune up to the car, and then the car would not start obviously, however I remained calm and began the tune process again, and it gave me the option to revert to stock, so i agreed and it worked fine, and the car worked again, so then i redid the tune and kept my mits a mile from the keys or the cord, and let it push the custom tune back on a second time without interruption and it worked perfectly. Perhaps it was luck, or just using common sense about how to step back the process, but in any case the tuner did its job, even when i fuxed it up once. That was with a SCT XCAL 3 from BAMA

 

[dgc333]

As long as your vehicle still has street legal functional emissions hardware, it doesn't matter if your ECU has been tuned or not.

That is not true. Any tuning that changes the operating parameters of the engine violates federal law whether all the emissions hardware is there or not.

The tune may still meet the emissions standards but unless it has been certified as meeting the requirements it is illegal.

Companies like Ford Performance, Roush, Montune actually submit their tunes for testing and get an executive order allowing them to legally be sold for street use. Everyone else is hiding behind the "For Offroad Use Only" banner.

Dave

 

[dgc333]

They can suck it. Im sure in time the software and hardware for accessing the ECMs will come along in the open source variety, and then they wont have a company to chew for it. Im astonished it hasn't happened already....probably due to the vendors being tight lipped on their software.

Likely just the opposite. The EPA has been after the car manufacturers for years to do a better job of locking down the ECUs to prevent tampering with the code. That is the primary reason that it takes so long after a revised ECU comes (think 18 Mustang) out for the tuner companies figure out how to access them.

The OEMs are walking a fine line between locking down the ECU the feds want and complying with the state level right to repair laws that require them to have ECUs that can be read by generic equipment that your corner garage can afford.

Dave

 

[Bradmxz]

“and they have had issues with their tunes corrupting ecm's to the point the owners had to buy new units...at their expense.”

This is the exact reason I would sell mine back in a heartbeat. The tuner caused me nothing but trouble.

There are a few exceptions where tuners may have been defective, but in general they dont corrupt things, at least my SCT Handhelds never have, and i have had 3 of them, and used them on 4 different vehicles now with 3 different tuning vendors.

Now if you dont CAREFULLY, read the directions, and accidentally turn off the key mid tune, or the cable isnt securely connected, or god forbid, you accidentally unplug it while loading a tune, well, you have just shot yourself in the foot there. Though i will also say interestingly enough, on my 2004 frankenstein build i had such a mishap occur in which i was waiting for a tune to finish loading, and while fiddling with untangling my keychain i did turn the ignition off about mid way through the second stage, where it was pushing the new tune up to the car, and then the car would not start obviously, however I remained calm and began the tune process again, and it gave me the option to revert to stock, so i agreed and it worked fine, and the car worked again, so then i redid the tune and kept my mits a mile from the keys or the cord, and let it push the custom tune back on a second time without interruption and it worked perfectly. Perhaps it was luck, or just using common sense about how to step back the process, but in any case the tuner did its job, even when i fuxed it up once. That was with a SCT XCAL 3 from BAMA

I assure you, directions were followed perfectly. I did have a very long post typed up here to explain my problems but decided to delete it. I will just say that I contacted bully dog and got nowhere with them.

 

[Bullitt95]

That is not true. Any tuning that changes the operating parameters of the engine violates federal law whether all the emissions hardware is there or not.

He he. In that case I'm glad I don't live in a state where the Smog Gestapo have gone mad while not enough is done to reduce emissions from the biggest polluters (industrial plants, HGVs, and aircraft engines).