FILE - In this Aug. 31, 2007 file photograph, a new 2008 Harley-Davidson Screamin' Eagle Ultra motorcycle is noticed at the Harley-Davidson of Glendale dealership in Glendale, Calif. Harley-Davidson has agreed to pay back $15 million to settle a criticism filed by federal environmental officers around racing tuners that triggered its motorcycles to emit greater than authorized ranges of air pollution. (AP Photograph/Damian Dovarganes, File)
Harley-Davidson Inc. agreed Thursday to pay back $15 million to settle a U.S. governing administration criticism around racing tuners that triggered its motorcycles to emit greater-than-authorized ranges of air pollution.
Harley-Davidson created and offered about 340,000 Screamin' Eagle Pro Super Tuners given that 2008 that authorized end users to modify a motorcycle's emissions handle process to boost electrical power and efficiency, according to court docket filings by the Justice Section and Environmental Defense Company.
The racing tuners, which the prosecutors reported have been illegal "defeat units" that circumvented emissions controls, also greater the amounts of such harmful air pollutants as nitrogen oxide spewing from the bikes' tailpipes.
The governing administration reported Harley-Davidson also built and offered more than 12,000 motorcycles of different designs concerning 2006 and 2008 with the illegal tuners pre-put in on them by dealers that have been not effectively qualified as conference cleanse air requirements. Underneath the arrangement, the corporation is essential to make sure that all of its long term motorcycle designs offered in the United States are fully qualified by EPA to meet air top quality requirements.
"Specified Harley-Davidson's prominence in the industry, this is a really significant action towards our aim of halting the sale of illegal aftermarket defeat units that cause harmful pollution on our roadways and in our communities," reported Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden, head of the Justice Department's environmental division. "Everyone else who manufactures, sells, or installs these varieties of illegal goods really should take heed of Harley-Davidson's corrective actions and quickly stop violating the law."
The Milwaukee-based mostly corporation reported the tuners in problem have been made for use on specialized track racing bikes and not intended for use on public roadways.
"This settlement is not an admission of legal responsibility but in its place represents a superior faith compromise with the EPA on spots of law we interpret in another way," reported Ed Moreland, Harley-Davidson's governing administration affairs director. "For more than two decades, we have offered this products under an recognized regulatory approach that permitted the sale of levels of competition-only parts. In our check out, it is and was legal to use in race circumstances in the U.S."
Underneath the arrangement, Harley-Davidson reported it will no extended promote the racing tuners. The corporation also will give to acquire again all such tuners in stock at Harley-Davidson dealerships across the place and wipe out them.
The corporation reported it now will give a different design for sale made to comply with condition and federal cleanse air requirements.
Harley-Davidson will also pay back a $12 million civil penalty and spend $3 million to mitigate air pollution by way of a undertaking to exchange regional traditional woodstoves with cleaner-burning variations.
EPA officers uncovered the violations by way of a schedule inspection and information submitted by the corporation. The case arrives amid greater scrutiny of the use of defeat units in the wake of past year's revelations that Volkswagen offered more than 550,000 diesel vehicles and SUVs that contained illegal program to cheat U.S. emissions exams.
Hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions contribute to harmful ground-stage ozone and high-quality particulate make a difference pollution. Exposure has been joined with a range of really serious wellness results, like greater asthma assaults and other respiratory health problems.
"This settlement quickly stops the sale of illegal aftermarket defeat units applied on public roadways that threaten the air we breathe," reported Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator of EPA's enforcement arm. "Harley-Davidson is taking important ways to acquire again the 'super tuners' from their dealers and wipe out them, whilst funding tasks to mitigate the pollution they triggered."
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