US EPA investigating Navistar for emission violations

18 February 2012

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Notice of Violation to Navistar in regards to 7,600 heavy-duty diesel engines claimed by the manufacturer to be model year 2009, but the assembly of which was completed in 2010. This, according to the EPA, was in violation of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

The EPA letter, dated January 30, 2012, was first published on CommercialMotor.com. According to Reuters, Navistar confirmed the receipt of the Notice. The violation potentially carries a fine of up to $37,500 per engine, or up to $285 million in total.

The affected engines are so-called “transition engines”, or engines built at a time when the company was introducing a new engine line-up meeting the more stringent, 2010 emission requirements. Navistar commenced construction of the 7,600 engines, such as by installing a crankshaft into the engine block, in 2009. Even though the engines were fully assembled in 2010, Navistar designated them as model year 2009. This, concluded the EPA in the letter, was in violation of the CAA and the engines were no longer covered by the MY2009 certificate of conformity.

This issue of transition engines may potentially extend to other manufacturers beyond Navistar.

Navistar has been involved in a lengthy court battle against the EPA, where the engine maker attempted to force the agency to recall competitors’ urea-SCR engines as noncompliant with the CAA. The Navistar’s complaint was recently dismissed by a US District Court in Washington, DC.

Source: Reuters