How do we know this? Because the RPM Act is not designed to solve the problem that SEMA claims exists. SEMA is simply interested in making it easier for its members to make money. SEMA is not interested in air quality or public health or whether the RPM Act restricts EPA’s ability to do its job. The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) is the trade association for aftermarket equipment manufacturers, including the companies manufacturing defeat devices, and they have been fighting with EPA for the exemption for at least 5 years. Why the RPM Act Keeps Coming BackĪs with most tiny, obscure bills like this, the reason why the RPM Act keeps on being introduced year after year is money. It pushes enforcement away from the primary source of the problem - manufacturers selling defeat devices to the masses - and immediately limits investigation and enforcement actions to installers of the defeat device, at which point EPA would likely have to further prove that the installer/seller of the device knew that the product was not for a competition-only vehicle. What this means in practice is that EPA would no longer be able to explicitly target manufacturers who sell these products online - these aftermarket providers would be able instead to hide behind a purported belief that a purchaser was going to modify their vehicle into a competition vehicle.
The RPM Act creates a loophole centered on the usage of a motor vehicle, which gives cover to anyone who manufacturers, sells, or installs a defeat device - the RPM act as written would create an exemption “if the action is for the purpose of modifying a motor vehicle into a vehicle that is not legal for operation on a street or highway and is to be used solely for competition.” These strong anti-tampering provisions have allowed EPA to target the manufacture, sale, and installation of parts intended to “bypass, defeat, or render inoperative” emissions controls, aka “defeat devices.” However, the RPM Act is designed to neuter this capability. And now SEMA is trying to make EPA’s job harder with the RPM Act, protecting aftermarket parts manufacturers at the cost of public health. That amounts to at least 10 times the emissions of Dieselgate. The Clean Air Act states quite clearly that it is prohibited “for any person to manufacture or sell, or offer to sell, or install, any part or component intended for use with, or as part of, any motor vehicle or motor vehicle engine, where a principal effect of the part or component is to bypass, defeat, or render inoperative any device.” There is no magical exemption for different uses of a certified motor vehicle.ĮPA enforcement under the Clean Air Act has found that about 1 in every 10 diesel trucks has had their emissions controls tampered with. But for supporters of the Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports (RPM) Act, the Clean Air Act is just too good at its job. The Clean Air Act is great, and this year we are celebrating 50 years of it doing the backbreaking work of cleaning up tailpipe pollution so that we aren’t choking on smoke and smog from the 200+ million cars on U.S. Union of Concerned Scientists September 21, 2020 With 'defeat devices' once again in the news, thanks to yet another manufacturer failing to comply with the #CleanAirAct, seems like a good time to remind folks how the auto industry is actively working to increase the use of defeat devices. Since the industry continues to push this bill in session after session of Congress, let’s break down what the RPM Act does, why it keeps coming back, and why this zombie bill should be taken out and never be heard from again. In this case, aftermarket parts manufacturers and dealers, under their trade association, are fighting for passage of the Recognizing Protection of Motorsports (RPM) Act, a bill which would cripple EPA’s ability to go after people who tamper with automotive emissions controls and one UCS has been tracking for more than three years. With “defeat devices” once again in the news, thanks to yet another manufacturer failing to comply with the Clean Air Act, now seems as good a time as any to remind folks how the automotive industry is actively working to undermine the protections of the Clean Air Act and increase the use of defeat devices in passenger cars and trucks. Originally published on blog of Union of Concerned Scientists.