Now here in the states, you can see why thats a problem between city folk who couldn't drive a pickup without wrecking it, if they even have a license, and those in the more rural parts. We shouldn't be forced to get along. We live completely different lives. There are no busses, or trains, or hell, even paved roads.
Discussion
A cultural average is made up—trouble starts when the cultural average is voted as enforceable through the state (eco requirements, vehicle restrictions, etc.) Urban/suburban numbers being higher in population the “forcing to get along” becomes tyrannical.
Eco is mostly a fed thing now. Ask me about my most recent, forced, career change :)
What’s this about your most recent forced career change?
I worked in automotive aftermarket, specifically in calibration firmware engineering. When our lawyers came to us and said, we can fight this, but you'll have to worry for the rest of your career that the government could decide to kick your door in whenever they want, we decided it wasn't for us. Shut the company down and walked away. They tapped peoples phones, monitored our social media, in other cases, they tapped into their security cameras and just watched them all day, footage used against them in court (including memes btw). I wish I could share more about our case but everyone involved has asked me to keep the details private (although its public knowledge)
The worst part, there is no regulation, they never told us what we did wrong, nor had to, they just needed us to prove we "didn't" do anything wrong, otherwise every component we sold was considered a "defeat device". This literally includes tires by the way. There is no legal way to sell aftermarket automotive parts. CARB can issue testing certificates under certain conditions but the EPA does not have to respect them we were told again by our lawyers.
The diesel system related topic? I heard about it and you guys were railroaded by overzealous petty tyrants, sorry it happened to you guys. The prison system is already too full and walking away was probably the better outcome
Yes this was for diesel engines. And to be clear we never knowingly sold emissions specific tampering equipment, exhaust systems "delete" parts and so on. We were very cautious because we knew others were going to prison for selling them. We were working on vehicles that were old enough not to have standalone emissions equipment.
Tough break—must have been difficult to walk away
glad to know you even through just #nostr
I appreciate it! I don't come here begging for attention or compassion, I speak to bring awareness to anyone who's willing to listen. We made our own choices and had to live with them that's how it works. I loved the work, and the potential. There isn't that much competition for above average engineers in the field, so there was a lot of potential for success. But we learned later on there is only $150m/year in revenue in the entire market according to a group called SEMA, and the post-covid economy decimated small businesses and forced warehoused to sell to market integration companies. It's a mostly dying field. I'm sure some will pivot and have success, but it's a tiny market.
I am so confused by this. Wasn't the whole dieselgate thing VW making there vehicles cheat emissions testing? What does that have to do with aftermarket tuners?
Yes, after that congress amended the Clean Air Act (section 7552.2) to allow the Administrator to determine what is a defeat device, and punish anyone (as they see fit there is no precedent from supreme court on punishment yet) who manufactures, sells, or installs a defeat device. Yes they have the power to go after individuals who installed them, and in some states (New Jersey) they forced owners to purchase, and re-install emissions equipment in 7 days or the truck would be taken and crushed. The guy posted the whole saga on facebook in 2022 I believe. They made him drive the truck to a crusher and crush it because he couldnt get the parts. There was a national supply-chain issue obtaining these parts, it took us 8 months to get 1 exhaust kit, by the time we got it, the customer bought a new truck and sold the old one as not-running, it was a 3 year old truck btw.
In fact, our lawyers were pretty determined that the EPA was hoping we would take them you court, appeal and all that for next 5 years, to set an extremely high precedent. They get pretty pissed when you settle a civil case, they would rather get a warrant and make it criminal, it's less work the pencil pushers have to do. They are less likely to be able to defend themselves because the freeze all personal assets and put a retarded bail price on it. From what I saw, most decent criminal defense council was nice enough to take the case on without a retainer up front.
Clean air act 7552.2 (That testing part in section C is bs btw, the EPA offers no facilities, licenses, or testing procedures, they just say "tests", no one is actually able to "test" their equipment as they have no guidelines)
(2)(A) for any person to fail or refuse to permit access to or copying of records or to fail to make reports or provide information required under section 7542 of this title;
(B) for any person to fail or refuse to permit entry, testing or inspection authorized under section 7525(c) of this title or section 7542 of this title;
(C) for any person to fail or refuse to perform tests, or have tests performed as required under section 7542 of this title;
(D) for any manufacturer to fail to make information available as provided by regulation under section 7521(m)(5) of this title;
(3)(A) for any person to remove or render inoperative any device or element of design installed on or in a motor vehicle or motor vehicle engine in compliance with regulations under this subchapter prior to its sale and delivery to the ultimate purchaser, or for any person knowingly to remove or render inoperative any such device or element of design after such sale and delivery to the ultimate purchaser; or
(B) for any person to manufacture or sell, or offer to sell, or install, any part or component intended for use with, or as part of, any motor vehicle or motor vehicle engine, where a principal effect of the part or component is to bypass, defeat, or render inoperative any device or element of design installed on or in a motor vehicle or motor vehicle engine in compliance with regulations under this subchapter, and where the person knows or should know that such part or component is being offered for sale or installed for such use or put to such use; or
Imo, we have already crossed that line.