North Carolina automotive parts manufacturer and seller, Rudy’s Performance Parts Inc. (Rudy’s), and its owner, Aaron Rudolf, have agreed to pay a total of $10 million in criminal fines and civil penalties for manufacturing, selling and installing devices, commonly known as “defeat devices,” used to remove or disable required emissions controls in motor vehicles, the U.S. Department of justice said today.
“Defeat devices, such as those sold by Rudy’s, can lead to pollution at high levels that pose health risks and harm the environment,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This plea agreement and civil settlement show that we will take strong action to enforce the Clean Air Act and emissions controls requirements for motor vehicles.”
Rudy’s pleaded guilty and was sentenced today in federal court in Washington, D.C., for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act. U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden for the District of Columbia ordered Rudy’s to pay a criminal fine of $2.4 million and to complete a three-year period of organizational probation. Rudolf, sole owner and chief executive officer of Rudy’s, previously pleaded guilty for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act by tampering with monitoring devices on approximately 300 diesel trucks, which involved the installation of defeat devices on those trucks. He was sentenced in April to three years of probation and ordered to pay a $600,000 criminal fine.
Separate from the criminal actions, the Justice Department, on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), filed a civil suit in 2022 against Rudy’s and Rudolf for violating the Clean Air Act by manufacturing, selling and installing defeat devices and failing to adequately respond to the EPA’s formal requests for information. Under a consent decree filed 29 July, Rudy’s and Rudolf will pay a $7 million civil penalty for those violations. The consent decree would also prohibit them from making, selling, offering to sell and installing defeat devices, transferring intellectual property that would allow others to make or sell defeat devices and investing in or profiting from defeat devices manufactured or sold by other businesses. The decree is subject to court approval.
According to court documents in the criminal case, Rudy’s sold defeat devices, known as delete tuners, which tampered with the on-board diagnostic systems (OBDs) of vehicles. Rudy’s top selling product was the Mini Maxx delete tuner originally manufactured by another company, identified in court documents as “Company A.” Rudy’s also sold the XRT Pro, another Company A delete tuner. After Company A stopped making these tuners, Rudy’s conspired with others to manufacture imitation Company A tuners. Rudy’s reached an agreement with a software technician to convert certain tuners into imitation Company A tuners. That agreement ran from July 2015 through December 2016, when the software technician stopped converting tuners.
After that, Rudy’s manufactured the imitation delete tuners in-house using a laptop computer that Rudy’s purchased for $850,000. The laptop contained software to convert tuners into imitation Company A tuners. In-house manufacturing lasted from about December 2016 through July 2018. In total, Rudy’s sold approximately 43,900 imitation tuners, generating about $33 million in revenue.
The civil lawsuit alleges that from at least 2014 through mid-2019, Rudy’s and Rudolf manufactured and sold over 250,000 products designed to remove or disable EPA-mandated emissions controls. These products included hardware parts such as plates that block a vehicle’s exhaust gas recirculation system and pipes that replace pollution treatment components in a vehicle’s exhaust system.
Disabling or removing emissions controls and tampering with the OBD of a diesel truck causes its emissions — including nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, particulate matter and non-methane hydrocarbons — to increase significantly. Diesel exhaust is a mobile source air toxic because it poses cancer and non-cancer health risks. In the civil complaint, the EPA estimates that the number of products sold by Rudy’s amounted to adding over 1 million vehicles’ worth of pollution to America’s roads.
The $7 million that Rudy’s and Rudolf will pay pursuant to the consent decree was based on their financial capability.
The EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division investigated the criminal case. Senior Counsel Krishna S. Dighe and Trial Attorney Stephen J. Foster of the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s (ENRD) Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer L. Blackwell for the District of Columbia are prosecuting the criminal case. Senior Counsel Elizabeth L. Loeb of ENRD’s Environmental Enforcement Section, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cassie Crawford and Rebecca Mayer for the Middle District of North Carolina and Attorney-Adviser Lauren Tozzi of EPA’s Air Enforcement Division are handling the civil case.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
North Carolina Parts Seller Fined for Emission Defeat Devices
North Carolina automotive parts manufacturer and seller, Rudy’s Performance Parts Inc. (Rudy’s), and its owner, Aaron Rudolf, have agreed to pay a total of $10 million in criminal fines and civil penalties for manufacturing, selling and installing devices, commonly known as “defeat devices,” used to remove or disable required emissions controls in motor vehicles, the U.S. Department of justice said today.
“Defeat devices, such as those sold by Rudy’s, can lead to pollution at high levels that pose health risks and harm the environment,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This plea agreement and civil settlement show that we will take strong action to enforce the Clean Air Act and emissions controls requirements for motor vehicles.”
Rudy’s pleaded guilty and was sentenced today in federal court in Washington, D.C., for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act. U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden for the District of Columbia ordered Rudy’s to pay a criminal fine of $2.4 million and to complete a three-year period of organizational probation. Rudolf, sole owner and chief executive officer of Rudy’s, previously pleaded guilty for conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act by tampering with monitoring devices on approximately 300 diesel trucks, which involved the installation of defeat devices on those trucks. He was sentenced in April to three years of probation and ordered to pay a $600,000 criminal fine.
Separate from the criminal actions, the Justice Department, on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), filed a civil suit in 2022 against Rudy’s and Rudolf for violating the Clean Air Act by manufacturing, selling and installing defeat devices and failing to adequately respond to the EPA’s formal requests for information. Under a consent decree filed 29 July, Rudy’s and Rudolf will pay a $7 million civil penalty for those violations. The consent decree would also prohibit them from making, selling, offering to sell and installing defeat devices, transferring intellectual property that would allow others to make or sell defeat devices and investing in or profiting from defeat devices manufactured or sold by other businesses. The decree is subject to court approval.
According to court documents in the criminal case, Rudy’s sold defeat devices, known as delete tuners, which tampered with the on-board diagnostic systems (OBDs) of vehicles. Rudy’s top selling product was the Mini Maxx delete tuner originally manufactured by another company, identified in court documents as “Company A.” Rudy’s also sold the XRT Pro, another Company A delete tuner. After Company A stopped making these tuners, Rudy’s conspired with others to manufacture imitation Company A tuners. Rudy’s reached an agreement with a software technician to convert certain tuners into imitation Company A tuners. That agreement ran from July 2015 through December 2016, when the software technician stopped converting tuners.
After that, Rudy’s manufactured the imitation delete tuners in-house using a laptop computer that Rudy’s purchased for $850,000. The laptop contained software to convert tuners into imitation Company A tuners. In-house manufacturing lasted from about December 2016 through July 2018. In total, Rudy’s sold approximately 43,900 imitation tuners, generating about $33 million in revenue.
The civil lawsuit alleges that from at least 2014 through mid-2019, Rudy’s and Rudolf manufactured and sold over 250,000 products designed to remove or disable EPA-mandated emissions controls. These products included hardware parts such as plates that block a vehicle’s exhaust gas recirculation system and pipes that replace pollution treatment components in a vehicle’s exhaust system.
Disabling or removing emissions controls and tampering with the OBD of a diesel truck causes its emissions — including nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, particulate matter and non-methane hydrocarbons — to increase significantly. Diesel exhaust is a mobile source air toxic because it poses cancer and non-cancer health risks. In the civil complaint, the EPA estimates that the number of products sold by Rudy’s amounted to adding over 1 million vehicles’ worth of pollution to America’s roads.
The $7 million that Rudy’s and Rudolf will pay pursuant to the consent decree was based on their financial capability.
The EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division investigated the criminal case. Senior Counsel Krishna S. Dighe and Trial Attorney Stephen J. Foster of the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s (ENRD) Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer L. Blackwell for the District of Columbia are prosecuting the criminal case. Senior Counsel Elizabeth L. Loeb of ENRD’s Environmental Enforcement Section, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cassie Crawford and Rebecca Mayer for the Middle District of North Carolina and Attorney-Adviser Lauren Tozzi of EPA’s Air Enforcement Division are handling the civil case.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.