OKLAHOMA CITY – The owner of a diesel engine repair company has pleaded guilty to violating the federal Clean Air Act by circumventing vehicle emission control systems.
James Love, owner/operator of Southwest Diesel Service in Oklahoma City, admitted that for at least four years, 2015-19, he caused unidentified individuals to “modify and delete the emissions control systems of diesel engines” and caused others to “tamper with and render inaccurate the vehicles’ on-board diagnostic systems.”
The OBD is “a computerized system that monitors all emission-related engine systems and components,” including the diesel oxidation catalyst, Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles W. Brown wrote. In the event of a malfunction or any deterioration of the emission system, the OBD triggers a diagnostic trouble code “and a Malfunction Indicator/Check Engine Light may be illuminated on the truck’s dashboard.”
Under certain circumstances, if a hardware emission system malfunction is significant, the OBD “can shut down the truck, or in some instances may limit the top speed of the truck, an effect commonly referred to as ‘limp mode’ or ‘power reduced mode,’” Brown explained. Operating in limp mode will restrict a vehicle’s speed “to as low as 5 miles per hour.”
The federal complaint alleged that Love caused unidentified persons to tamper with heavy-duty diesel trucks by removing their emissions control components and replacing the “relevant portion” of the exhaust system with “straight pipes or by hollowing out and replacing” the existing emissions control system.
Love then caused other unnamed individuals to “tune” heavy-duty diesel trucks by reprogramming the trucks’ on-board diagnostic systems “to prevent the trucks from going into ‘limp mode’, to avoid triggering a trouble code, and to prevent the Malfunction Indicator Light from turning on.”
Love, 52, pleaded guilty in Oklahoma City’s Western District federal court last October to tampering with a monitoring device and method required to be maintained under the Clean Air Act. He was released from custody on $10,000 bond while awaiting sentencing, which has not been scheduled yet.