EPA Rule to Ban Car Modification | Hacker News Reader

EPA Rule to Ban Car Modification

thenewspaper.com

16 pointsptaipale10 comments

This seems kinda pointless. Engine-modified cars represent a tiny, tiny portion of the total population, and probably contribute a rounding error to the pollution. Sure, go after pickups that "roll coal", but going after people that want to install a cold-air intake or larger exhaust is just odd.

I agree, but the article claims aftermarket parts are "$36 billion dollar a year industry" which seems like more than a rounding error... It does strike me a tricky issue to address, ensuring air quality is very important, but having some ability to fix and modify your own vehicle seems worth protecting.

That number almost certainly includes off-brand replacement parts that don't substantially change the performance of the vehicle. Stuff like third party mufflers to replace the OEM muffler when it rusts out.

On older cars your options for repair parts are often either the junkyard or aftermarket companies like Dorman.

> "Anyone modifying a certified motor vehicle or motor vehicle engine for any reason is subject to the tampering and defeat device prohibitions of this section and 42 USC 7522(a)(3)."

IANAL, but it reads to me like you wouldn't be able to do that on one of these cars. The manufacturer could stop offering the muffler and you wouldn't be able to use a third party replacement whether it substantially changes the performance of the vehicle or not.

"Certified motor vehicles and motor vehicle engines and their emission control devices must remain in their certified configuration even if they are used solely for competition or if they become nonroad vehicles or engines,"

Am I reading this right? Have a part go bad? You have to buy the OEM, not the aftermarket that is half the cost. If I'm correct, this is nothing but a money grab for the automakers.

It's a money grab for suppliers of original parts, but it is also a control point and power grab for many authorities.

A specific point that interests me is modification of engine control software. This can actually both improve performance and decrease pollution at the same time, and it would be prohibited in the USA.

(I'm not in the USA, but I am still concerned by this because the same things tend to float across the Atlantic.)

Relax: this doesn't try to ban aftermarket repairs with non-OEM parts (presumably they would qualify as certified configuration if the replacement had similar performance).

Fail to relax: this does prohibit changes which, as Vexs has pointed out, have to be a source of de minimus amounts of pollution at worst. I'm especially intrigued by the "off road" provisions since you have until now been able to make off road mods that render the car not street worthy (e.g. remove the safety belts or brake lights or whatever).

And what will mfrs put under the certification umbrella? Surely you can disconnect the antenna that reports performance and use information to the manufacturer...?

I am all for being green and taking steps to better the environment. However, if the goal is to deter a behavior, wouldn't this be better accomplished by passing a carbon tax?

Also, does this only apply to ICE aftermarket parts? Would supposedly EV parts not apply?

I would guess this is to do with health impacts of toxic emissions rather than co2 in particular.

But if I read it right, it also applies to all modifications, even if they have no impact on any emissions, toxic or not, or even if the modifications reduces those emissions.

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