The Department of Justice announced that a court fined a utility company nearly $40,000 after installing illegal exclusion devices.
The certified Ford dealer in Nebraska also faces a one-year probation period.
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Moody Motor Company, a Ford dealership in Niobrara, Nebraska, was fined $39,741.95 and sentenced to one year of probation for its role in circumventing federal emissions regulations.
The judgment, entered on July 31, 2024, also included a special assessment of $125.
The U.S. Department of Justice, or DOJ, revealed in a statement that Moody Motor was found guilty as an accessory after the fact to a violation of the Clean Air Act.
The Clean Air Act is a federal law that regulates emissions in dozens of products, including motor vehicles.
Its impact on passenger cars includes stringent exhaust standards, including emission mitigation devices.
The DOJ argued that Moody Motor repaired vehicles with emissions systems that did not meet federal requirements.
The investigations at the dealership stem from complaints from another company.
The DOJ’s search was triggered by an earlier review of Diesel Performance Texas, or DPTX.
DPTX is a Dallas-based company known for selling tuners and delete kits.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigations Division opened an investigation into the company in January 2022.
The DOJ statement did not include any updates on the DPTX investigation.
DPTX’s products were designed to bypass vehicle exhaust systems legally required by the Clean Air Act, the DOJ said.
These modifications, which involved deactivating emissions control systems, were installed on several vehicles.
Post-sales work included installing exclusion devices and tuning vehicles to operate without mandatory emissions controls.
DOJ officials spoke with several Moody Motors employees during the investigation.
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Source: Kelley Blue Book
The DOJ said officials said they implemented the fixes on used trucks that needed several new sensors.
Officials estimated they installed the devices in “10 to 20 vehicles.”
Using the illegal exhaust system was “easier than replacing the sensors,” the DOJ said in a statement. the declaration.
“The owner of the truck was contacted and agreed to bring it in for inspection by EPA-CID,” the DOJ added in the statement.
“[The inspection] confirmed that the emissions control system had been illegally modified and the invoice reflected that the deleted music had been purchased from DPTX.”
DPTX provided Moody with 14 kits, the DOJ argued in court.
The dealership did not immediately respond to The US Sun’s request for comment.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
