Kohler pulled a VW??

ragingclue

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(Washington, DC - January 30, 2020) - The Department of Justice, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the State of California announced today a settlement with Kohler Co. (Kohler) for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act and California law. Under the terms of the settlement, Kohler will pay a $20 million civil penalty and retire more than three million kilograms (kgs) of unlawfully generated hydrocarbon (HC) + oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emission credits. Retirement of these credits will result in approximately 3,600 tons of HC + NOx emissions reductions.

The alleged violations pertain to Kohler’s manufacture and sale of millions of small, nonroad, nonhandheld spark-ignition (Small SI) engines that did not conform to the certification applications Kohler was required to submit to EPA and the California Air Resources Board (CARB). More than 144,000 of the engines were also equipped with a fueling strategy designed to cheat emissions testing standards (commonly referred to as a “defeat device”). Small SI engines are used in lawn mowers, ride-on mowers, commercial landscaping equipment, and generators.

In addition to paying a $20 million civil penalty and retiring over three million kgs of HC + NOx emission credits, Kohler will also implement an emissions testing validation plan that includes third-party observation and emissions verification testing, conduct annual audits, implement corporate governance reforms, and conduct annual regulatory compliance training of its employees. The injunctive relief measures are estimated to cost approximately $3.7 million.

In a separate settlement agreement resolving California-only claims, Kohler will pay an additional civil penalty of $200,000 and fund a program that will supply $1.8 million worth of solar-battery generators to low-income residents in California that live in areas subject to public safety power shutoffs to mitigate wildfire risk.

....

The complaint filed by the United States and California alleges that Kohler manufactured and sold millions of Small SI engines that did not conform to the certification applications Kohler submitted. The Small SI engines did not conform to their certification applications for one or more of the following reasons: (1) use of the wrong test cycle, (2) not fully complying with the test procedures Kohler certified to, (3) failure to comply with the applicable emission limits, (4) failure to age emission-related components for deterioration factor testing, (5) failure to disclose auxiliary emission control devices (AECDs) and adjustable parameters equipped on the engines, and (6) making changes to the configuration of production engines without amending the certification application covering those engines.

The complaint further alleges that Kohler developed and deployed a fueling strategy on at least 144,000 electronic fuel-injected (EFI) Small SI engines that significantly reduced NOx emissions during certification testing when compared to real-world operation (i.e., ran rich during certification testing but lean during in-use operation). The fueling strategy in the calibration—a defeat device—was not disclosed in Kohler’s certification applications and Kohler was aware that the fueling strategy was designed to reduce NOx emissions during certification testing even though the certification results were not representative of real-world operation.

In addition, the complaint alleges Kohler also submitted several incomplete or inaccurate certification applications, averaging, banking, and trading (ABT) reports, and production line testing (PLT) reports.

Finally, California alleges that certain engines did not conform to applicable evaporative emission standards. These California-only claims are being resolved through a separate settlement agreement between California and Kohler.

....

It says this happened in January but this is the first I've seen/heard of it. Sorry if it's old news, just didn't see anything on here yet.

I guess I'm a little confused as to the small engine emissions world (or maybe just dumb)... what does Kohler put engines in that need to pass emissions?
 

ragingclue

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In December 2015, Kohler self-disclosed to EPA and CARB that it had been using the wrong test cycle to test many of its Small SI engines. EPA and CARB’s subsequent investigation revealed that millions of additional Small SI engines were noncompliant, including some of which were equipped with a defeat device.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time"...?
 

ragingclue

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After dieselgate they figured self-disclosing was preferable to having someone find them
True true. They do get especially nasty with the entities who like to "F around and find out". I had just figured (due to the size of the settlement vs those of other cooperative entities) it had been one of those situations where the EPA had to force the issue when I saw the penalties.... but I guess not! I wonder what it would have looked like had they not come clean.
 
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