The Obama administration is looking to close down the automotive aftermarket. Tucked deep within a proposed rulemaking governing diesel truck engines, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) introduced language that would prohibit any changes to an automobile’s engine or exhaust after it leaves the factory. The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) raised the alarm Monday after discovering the hidden provision.
“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,” the proposed regulation states. “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).”
The public comment period on the rule change closed last October. After the final rule is published in the Federal Register, it will have the force of law. The new regulation clarifies that road vehicles that are certified for sale in the United States can still be raced — as long as the catalytic converters and other equipment remain untouched.
“If a motor vehicle is covered by a certificate of conformity at any point, there is no exemption from the tampering and defeat-device prohibitions that would allow for converting the engine or vehicle for competition use,” the proposed rule states. “There is no prohibition against actual use of certified motor vehicles or motor vehicle engines for competition purposes; however, it is not permissible to remove a motor vehicle or motor vehicle engine from its certified configuration regardless of the purpose for doing so.”
Under existing regulations, engines produced for racing do not need to meet any emissions standards, and a road car’s engine may be modified for use in racing and offered for commercial sale without specific EPA approval (40 CFR 1068.235). Many automotive tuner shops sell parts designed for the race track to individuals interested in boosting the performance of their street vehicles. The EPA intends to close that market permanently by prohibiting the sale of high-performance engine and exhaust parts.
SEMA, which represents the $36 billion aftermarket industry, is furious and intends to battle the proposal in court. The group argues that the federal agencies violated public notice requirements by hiding the controversial proposal in a proceeding that has nothing to do with automobiles.
“This proposed regulation represents overreaching by the agency, runs contrary to the law and defies decades of racing activity where EPA has acknowledged and allowed conversion of vehicles,” SEMA President Chris Kersting said in a statement. “Congress did not intend the original Clean Air Act to extend to vehicles modified for racing and has re-enforced that intent on more than one occasion.”
The administration’s hostility to performance cars is not new. It denied long-standing regulatory exemptions to low-volume manufacturers like Lotus, forcing the British automaker out of the US market. The administration has also sought to downplay the use of internal combustion engines in autoracing in favor of battery-powered vehicles through its “Green Racing Initiative,” claiming the change of focus will prevent global warming.
“The goal of green racing is to use motor sport competition to help rapidly develop cleaner, more fuel efficient vehicle propulsion systems that will eventually be used in consumer vehicles,” the EPA stated in a 2010 news release. “The high level of interest in motor sports could bring this technology to the attention of the public and hasten its acceptance in the new market.”
just like them trying to take my gun rights .. this too shall be ignored
Suck on that!
“Claiming the change of focus will prevent global warming.”
So now the racing industry is single-handedly causing global warming….I never would have guessed, OMG, if only we’d known that years ago, we wouldn’t be in this mess!
Funny how it’s the government that has seriously hindered the development of alternative energy in the automotive industry, and now they’re talking as though there is a lack of interest and they have to convince us to pursue it!
they don’t want those computers removed
probably closer to the truth
This is similar to what we high performance boaters went through. The EPA banned 2 cycle engines, so now we either have to keep re-building our engines, buy one of the new “green” motors or get out of our sport. We went from having engines that producer 300+ Horsepower and weighed under 400 pounds to the new ones that are lucky to make 250 Horsepower and weigh well over 400 pounds or more for the 4 cycle motors.
These communists have no problem destroying entire industries for absolutely nothing. All motor sports combined burn less than .1% of the fuel used in this country and they are literally willing to kill people over an amount so minuscule it cannot be measured. SCUM, TRAITOROUS FILTH!!!
Obummer= the ultimate country crasher!……… this guy has to be related to
the devil……he has done more to damage our country and its private
capitalist structure than all atom bombs put together. what the govt is
trying to tell you is you dont own your vehicle any longer as well. foock
that. they sure are pushing hard for payback.
Fook you you government pr#@ks,,,,
NOMI
A “lawful” way to get rid of the competition so you can create niche markets controlled solely by government and their cronies. Building the communist corporatocracy one pen stroke at a time. More money, more power and more control.
A $36,000,000,000 industry!
And they want it to disappear by sleight of hand regulation?
Good luck with that.
It’s a real positive for the “bulls on parade”.
Now they have another excuse to pull people over, rather than a burned out taillight.
They can use the hidden roadside or mobile truck backscatter x-ray, hard X-ray or Terrahertz scanning machines to check the vehicle against preprogrammed images of the exhaust and pollution control systems on every known vehicle on the planet. Or they can use real-time spectroscopy to look at exhaust composition to see if there’s been any tampering…and then use the scanners. Or all of the above and more.
I’m sure they can probably do those things and more from drones or satellites.
Isn’t technology wonderful for those who want to control us humans?
What about all jet aircraft?
Why aren’t they held to the same emissions standards?
How many are in the air this minute? How many BTUs per day/month/year . . .
….and how many tons of chemtrail emissions do they spew…?