Looks like Harley has some EPA issues

[Pat Conlon]

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1105855_harley-davidson-actually-sold-emission-defeat-devices-itself-will-pay-12-million-fine

$12 million is a drop in the bucket for HD but the added stipulation of having to buy back 340,000 "super tuner" devices will hurt.

You would have thought HD would have known better than have it's dealers install these modules. Well they do now.

[spsmith_fj1200]

But the parts were labelled "for race use only" and the dealers assumed that the owners were racing their Harleys. 

[Nova]

What? You always see them every weekend dirt tracking their FLH's don't you?

[PaulG]

Absolutely moronic.  I guess they took it for granted that they have always been given preferential treatment by various levels of government.  Only getting a $12 mill fine - equivalent to $35.29 each - is still proof of that.  Yes they still have to buy them back (if they don't appeal), but it looks like they got off with the minimum.

This is the kind of thing that causes a room full of bureaucrats sit around and come up with things to justify their jobs.  Like: "You know, we could rake in a lot of money by demanding emission tests on ALL motorcycles/ATVs on or off road.  This proves we need to regulate them!"

We went through this for about 10 yrs in Ontario when they regulated emissions tests every 2yrs for cars/trucks that were older than 3yrs.  It was supposed to be "revenue neutral", but it was finally revealed that 98% of vehicles passed, and the provincial government was raking in 10's of millions of dollars each year.

Once their hands were caught in the cookie jar they took the extemely rare step of cancelling the program.  But they couldn't drop it right away because of all the shops that invested in the equipment to do the tests.  They paid over $200,000 for the analyzers and they hadn't paid them off yet, so the government had to "unfortunatly" keep the program for a while longer while these shops wrote down the investment.

Now if HD engineered performance into their engines while maintaining emissions, then that would be impressive.  Well not really, since there are plenty of other high performance V-twins out there that have been doing it for years.  I wonder if HD had their lawyers and actuaries crunch some numbers and they hedged their bets that even if they did get caught and fined they would still come out ahead.  It's quite possible they didn't consider having to buy the devices back though.  That's my tin-foil-hat-theory for today. 

[Charlie-brm]

Things get spun way out of hand on the internet and folks just run with it. Now it turns out it's a big misunderstanding. No fines.

It turns out that the EPA didn't realize that virtually all Harley-Davidson highway miles are trailer miles. The engines aren't even running, so there's no motorcycle pollution at all.
EPA spokesperson Ann Rowan made this announcement Monday morning, in Milwaukee:

When the EPA singled out Harley-Davidson, we at first thought that the company was abusing the "off-road only", "competition only" exemption that has long existed for aftermarket ECUs. However, after a meeting between the Justice Department's John C. Cruden and Harley-Davidson's John Moreland, we realized that we were targeting the wrong motorcyclists.

We thought that since Harley-Davidson dealers were installing these aftermarket "super tuners" on motorcycles licensed and insured for road use, that it was a clear violation of the "off-road" and "competition" exemption. We didn't realize that virtually all Harleys really are off-road vehicles, in the sense that they travel above the road on trailers. And of course, most of the owners are engaged in an ego-driven money spending contest.

It was our mistake; we thought people were actually riding those things, and we're sorry for any confusion we may have caused.

[Pat Conlon]

Thanks Paul, I didn't know that Canada went through that....

Charlie, I *think* you are kidding, although with HD's lobbing powers it would not surprise me.

There is a reason I posted this, I don't give a fuck about Harley Davidson, or Harley Davidson dealers, but there are other folks I do care about.

Here in Calif, the installation of aftermarket performance parts is a concern of many. We have a state agency that makes the federal EPA weenies look tame by comparison.
We have Calif Air Resource Board (CARB) and they wield a heavy stick. The civil penalties and fines for a Calif. based business caught installing non factory, non CARB listed performance parts on Calif registered street cars or motorcycles, have put more than a few folks out of business and into bankruptcy.

It's gotten so extreme that even though clearly labeled as "for off road use only" Factory Pro will not ship their needles or jet kits to folks with a Calif mailing address. I think the Dyno Jet folks do the same with their carb kits.
We had a local dealer I-10 Motorsports get into trouble with CARB. They are no longer in business.

I don't agree with what is going on...not one bit, and I will vote accordingly and email the folks I need to email, but here in Kalif. It is an uphill battle. They take smog rules very seriously.

If had my life savings invested into a business located in Calif, I would be very (very) careful about installing non factory, non CARB listed parts on a component of a motorcycle that one could reasonably assume be used on the street *within* Calif. Key word being "within". No problem with out of state sales.

Civil courts are different than criminal court. In civil court, it's all about the preponderance of evidence. The party with the most evidence wins. CARB does not file against a business until they have the evidence.
With CARB proceedings you are guilty until you prove you are innocent.

Beware and cover your ass.

[Mike 86 in San Dimas]

Pat, Remember smog alerts when we were kids in SG valley. A mile away from the mountains and could not see them. Coughing from deep breaths on the play ground. I know I will get hit hard for saying this but there is some good that has come about with air pollution regulations. Gone too far sometimes, for sure. I maintain back up power generators that run only hours a year (for maintenance and testing). It's incredible the amount of $, documentation, inspection and exhaust cleaning equipment we need to provide.
Poor HD. 

[PaulG]

I have a brother who spent some of his bohemian days of the early '70's in LA.  Actually he disappeared for about 4 yrs.  He told me he was there for nearly a month when he looked out the window one morning and saw the mountains in the distance - for the first time.  Never realized they were there because of the smog.  I wonder if those windows had bars....?

On that note - I'm all for the regulation of emissions for obvious reasons - but it drives me insane when governments try to disguise a blatant cash grab as a "green initiative" or whatever other pseudonym they wish to disguise it with.  Then put said stolen cash into that black hole of General Revenue - never to be spent on the program it was designed to fund.  Why do I always feel like that salmon swimming upstream into the waiting jaws of that Grizzly?

Must stop or my head will keep exploding.... again, and again, and again....

Though we gripe about it many times (and deservedly so in many cases) we are fortunate to have these regulations - heres why...

In '97 I was flying into Manila and I started smelling something awful - something I hadn't smelled for a long time - like a burning garbage dump on a hot August afternoon.  I looked out the window and saw this brown soup below us.  We were well over 20,000 ft still in a holding pattern.  Eventually we decended into this gruel and the smell became overpowering, you could even tatse it.  The olfactory bulb eventually gave up and we burst through this layer into sunshine (it was 6am).  At ground level it didn't change until we got out of there in the afternoon for our destination on another island.  I doubt if anything has improved since then.

Another brother had done many trips to China for his job.  He told me the local weather forcast in the city he was in, was stated in Smokestacks - as in it's a 5 Smokestack day - which meant how many smokestacks you could see down the sreet.  Every buliding had it's own coal fired boiler for heating, thus it's own smokestack.  Like London England c1892.  The atrium of his hotel had a blue haze.  When you got in the elevator you nearly asphyxiated by the time you reached the lobby.  After only being there for only a few days, when he got home hel felt like a 3 pack a day smoker.

This is the world we could have if we just didn`t give a shit.  But then theres difference between giving a shit, and just shitting on the taxpayer.

Uh-Oh, I`m doing it again.   

[Charlie-brm]

Charlie, I *think* you are kidding, although with HD's lobbing powers it would not surprise me.

Rest easy Pat.
It's part of a blog response created by Mark Gardiner, poking fun at the "Motor Company" http://backmarker-bikewriter.blogspot.ca/2016/08/epa-reverses-itself-on-harley-davidson.html

Here is the actual EPA statement on the official website, but it's so bizarre that I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me the EPA site I found is a spoof.  https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/harley-davidson-clean-air-act-settlement. The internet keeps me a little skeptical.

Tell me it's not bizarre that in the ruling, H-D is expected to apply their time and expense to help develop cleaner burning wood stoves. I mean, I know with help H-D might be able to build a wood stove, but who thinks up this connection?  This is how government works when left unsupervised.

Cheers.

[FJmonkey]

Who would want a wood burning stove that operates at 120+ Db? 

[JMR]

 You can still purchase the tuning unit from TTS in England. I was speaking with a well known tuner and he tought TTS was making the units for Harley.
They are nice tuning units as they offer generous (and independent) tuning parameters for front and rear cylinders. Even supply the running temps for front and rear cylinders. They are also bike specific. Once you plug it into a harness it is "married" to that bike. Kinda eliminates the used parts market.
Dynojet got fined a very large sum years ago but I think it was by the state of California.

[Charlie-brm]

Who would want a wood burning stove that operates at 120+ Db? 

LOL. Interesting that I actually had included that in my last post, then thought it was too much so I deleted it. I only estimated 102 dB though.
If my wood stove got that loud I'd figure it was a chimney fire and I'd be shitting bricks. So no, loud chimneys don't save lives.