The Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a settlement agreement with COBB Tuning Products to resolve claims related 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 cease the manufacture and sale of defeat devices.
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.”
“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 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. Today’s 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 customers who purchased the subject parts that these products violate the Clean Air Act,
- Conduct compliance training for its employees and contractors.
Defeat devices, 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 their sale.
More information on this settlement is available on the COBB Tuning Performance Settlement Agreement web page.
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. Information on submitting comments and access to the settlement agreement is available on the Justice Department’s website: www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees.
The EPA investigated this case.
Attorneys with the Justice Department’s Environmental Enforcement Section are handling it.