Advanced Flow Engineering, Inc., Clean Air Act Settlement

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a settlement with Advanced Flow Engineering, Inc. (aFe), to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) associated with the manufacture, sale and/or offer to sell aftermarket products that defeat the emissions control systems of motor vehicles. As part of the settlement, aFe has agreed to stop the sale of all products the government alleges violate the CAA. aFe will also pay a civil penalty of $250,000 over one year due to its limited financial ability to pay a higher penalty.

This case resolution is part of the EPA’s National Compliance Initiative for the EPA, entitled Stopping Aftermarket Defeat Devices for Vehicles and Engines. EPA is vigorously pursuing enforcement against those who violate the defeat device and tampering prohibitions of the Clean Air Act. For an example of another similar civil judicial settlement, see the EPA’s settlement with Performance Diesel, Inc. To report a violation, send an email to [email protected] or submit the information through the EPA’s website.

• Overview
• Violations
• Injunctive Relief
• Pollutant Impacts
• Health Effects and Environmental Benefits
• Civil Penalty
• Comment Period
• Contact

Overview

aFe is a California company headquartered in Riverside County where it manufactures a variety of aftermarket vehicle products and maintains a warehouse and a research and development facility. aFe conducts its business by selling primarily to downstream retailers but also sells to individual customers through its website, http://www.afepower.com

Violations

aFe manufactured, sold, and/or offered to sell at least 63,000 aftermarket defeat devices between 2014 and 2021. These products were for diesel and gas engines. All of the products were hardware exhaust system products -- sold individually or included in kits -- that physically alter or remove filters, catalysts and other critical emissions control devices that reduce air pollution.

Emission control devices are installed on motor vehicles and motor vehicle engines by original equipment manufacturers (i.e., car manufacturers) in order to comply with Clean Air Act emission standards. Defendant’s aftermarket products were designed for use with numerous models of vehicles, including vehicles manufactured by Ford, GM and Dodge. Accordingly, the EPA alleges that each act of manufacturing and each sale constitutes a violation of Section 203(a)(3)(B) of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7522(a)(3)(B).

Injunctive Relief

The Consent Decree specifies steps aFe must take to prevent future violations. The Consent Decree contains the following injunctive relief: Under the Consent Decree, aFe shall not manufacture, sell, offer to sell, distribute, or install in a motor vehicle or motor vehicle engine any of the at least 554 subject products identified in Appendix A to the Consent Decree. The Decree also requires aFe to destroy subject products left in aFe’s inventory in phases. Under the Consent Decree, Defendant’s obligations include the following actions:

• cease technical support for the subject products;
• deny all warranty claims for the subject products;
• notify authorized dealers that aFe no longer provides technical support or honors warranty claims for the subject products, and instructs all authorized dealers to do the same;
• revise all marketing materials to strike any information relating to replacing, defeating, etc., any emission control;
• notify authorized dealers and known customers of the subject products of the settlement using specified language; and
• provide CAA compliance training for all officers, employees, contractors and consultants who have relevant job responsibilities.

In addition, the Consent Decree prohibits aFe from possessing any ownership interest in any entity that aFe knows, or with reasonable diligence should know, manufactures, sells, offers to sell, distributes or installs any subject product, or assist any entity with such activity, or earn any income from the distribution or installation of any subject product.

In addition to the list of identified subject products, the above requirements apply to products that are materially similar to the identified subject products, products that bypass, defeat, render inoperative or delete the function of an emission control, or any product with a principal effect to bypass, defeat, render inoperative emission controls. Products that are exempt from the above requirements include those for which the California Air Resources Board has issued an Executive Order (EO) and those for which aFe has submitted a complete application for an EO within the past two years.

Pollutant Impacts

Today’s vehicles emit far less pollution than vehicles of the past. This is largely made possible by careful engine calibrations, and the use of filters and catalysts in the exhaust system. Aftermarket defeat devices undo this progress, and pollute the air we breathe. The emissions impact depends on the original vehicle design, and the extent of the vehicle modifications. EPA testing has shown that a vehicle’s emissions increase drastically (tens or hundreds of times, depending on the pollutant) when its emissions controls are removed.

Here, aFe’s defeat devices enabled the removal of the filters, catalysts, and other emissions control systems that are necessary to treat air pollution formed in the engine before it is emitted into the ambient air. They also increased air pollution formed in the engine during combustion.

Health Effects and Environmental Benefits

The Clean Air Act aims to reduce emissions from mobile sources of air pollution, including NO_x. Mobile sources of air pollution contribute approximately 58% of the nation’s oxides of nitrogen emissions. EPA testing demonstrates that installing aftermarket parts can result in increased NO_x emissions from mobile sources.

NO_x emissions pose significant health and environmental concerns. Oxides of nitrogen form when fuel burns at high temperatures. Oxides of nitrogen can travel long distances, causing a variety of health and environmental problems in locations far from their emissions source, including ozone and smog. Oxides of nitrogen also contribute to the formation of particulate matter (PM) through chemical reactions in the atmosphere, and PM can cause asthma, difficult or painful breathing, and chronic bronchitis, especially in children and the elderly. It is also a major cause of substantial visibility impairment in many parts of the United States.

The key health effects categories associated with ambient PM include premature mortality, aggravation of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, aggravated asthma and acute respiratory symptoms including aggravated coughing and difficult or painful breathing, chronic bronchitis and decreased lung function that can be experienced as shortness of breath. Symptoms of immunological effects such as wheezing and increased allergenicity have also been observed. Diesel exhaust PM is of special concern. The EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee has concluded that diesel exhaust is likely carcinogenic to humans.

EPA estimates that this settlement will prevent the future sale of approximately 12,000 illegal product units per year. On an annual basis, EPA projects this would result in the prevention of 830 tons of NO_x, 8 tons of PM, 41 tons of non-methane hydrocarbons, and 263 tons of CO.

Civil Penalty

aFe will pay a civil penalty of $250,000 over one year, as the company has a limited financial ability to pay a higher penalty.

Comment Period

The proposed settlement, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval. Information on submitting comments is available at the Department of Justice website.

Contact

Brian P. Riedel
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9 (ORC-2-2)
75 Hawthorne Street
(415) 972-3924
[email protected]

Nathan Dancher
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9 (ENF-2-1)
75 Hawthorne Street
(415) 972-3482
[email protected]