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Emissions Standards
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January 24, 2009 at 12:25 am #2489MunchParticipant
Ok…here some things that I found… I will paste some excerpts and edit as I find more.
Would new emission standards make it illegal to
customize my motorcycle?
Many motorcycle owners personalize their motorcycles. Indeed, this is
one of the joys of owning a motorcycle, and owners take their freedom
to customize motorcycles very seriously. We are not changing existing
provisions of section 203(a) of the Clean Air Act, as established in
1977, which states that it is illegal “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 title…after such sale and delivery to the ultimate purchaser…”. In
other words, owners of motor vehicles cannot legally make modifica-
tions that cause the emissions to exceed the applicable emissions stan-
dards, and they cannot remove or disable emission control devices
installed by the manufacturer.
We use the term “tampering” to refer specifically to actions that are
illegal under section 203 of the Clean Air Act; the term, and the prohibi-
tion, do not apply generally to the wide range of things that a motor-
cycle enthusiast can do to legally personalize their vehicle, only to
actions that cause the emissions to exceed the standards. The new
emissions standards do not change this “tampering” prohibition. In fact,
it is not within EPA’s ability or discretion to change this statutory prohi-
bition, which Congress put in place more than 20 years ago. Owners are
still free generally to customize their motorcycles in any way, as long as
they do not disable emission controls or cause the motorcycle to exceed
the emission standards.
A July 2002 EPA Press Release stated that “Motorcycle owners may
make cosmetic changes such as the color and chrome.” This was inter-
preted by some owners as meaning that they could only change “color
and chrome,” and the motorcycling community quickly picked up this as
a rallying cry and suggested that EPA was attempting to limit the ways
in which a motorcycle could be customized. In fact, there are many
things beyond “color and chrome” that a motorcycle owner can legally
modify, and this list of legal modifications will not change as a result of
this final rule. We cannot be more clear about this: the laws regarding
what you can and can not do to your motorcycle will be the same under
the new emission standards as they are today.This was found at :
http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:I75fRRYVmqgJ:www.epa.gov/OMS/regs/roadbike/420f03045.pdf+catalytic+converter+laws+motorcycle&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=7&gl=us
More Information…. definitive, final, and too much to copy and paste:
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/roadbike.htmJanuary 24, 2009 at 12:35 am #15958MunchParticipantSo far I have not gotten found a confirmation or listing on monetary penalties….will keep looking.
January 24, 2009 at 12:49 am #15961Sangria7ParticipantThis is why lawyers make so much money…the create laws that only the can decipher and litigate. LOL
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