Bud Taylor

EPA is trying to ban tunes and aftermarket exhaust.

I know for my Golf R APR quit offering a stage 2 tune.

Good video about this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH5HjH-ZTtg&t=0s

97supratt

Screw the EPA! They’re getting rid of gas powered cars. A-holes!

Andy515

second that. I would love to see a study that shows electrics cars are more environmentally friendly from manufacturing, maintenance, and disposal than current gas cars. The chemicals, materials etc. to produces an electric car I cannot imagine is much better than producing a gas powered car. In terms of running an electric car is makes a difference on where you live an how your power is generated. If you are always charging a car in an area that doesn't use green energy is it that much of a difference compared to some of the high efficiency gas cars. Now maintenance... batteries are not known for having a long life span so if you replace them what happens to the old ones... they are highly caustic chemical compound batteries. At least with a gas powered car there is a lot of metal to recycle at salvage. Maybe I am ignorance (quite possibly) but I have always struggled to see the difference in environmental impact from electric to normal high efficiency gas cars (not talking 911s here...).

BSO

There are cost electric/gas comparisons on the Engineering Explained Tube channel. Electric cars are coming and will replace ICE gradually, like it or not.

As to tuning, altering emissions control components has been a Federal violation for decades, as in some states. Loose enforcement has allowed the current conditions.

Individual owners may be hard to track down, but if they go after the tuners hard, they will be run out of business because the penalties will be too great to bear.

If they pressure tuners, the after-market component manufacturers will be hit if parts demand falls below profitable levels.

The flip side is that current OEM performance cars are overpowered for street use, really high powered vehicles are overkill. We can still have fun.

While I understand the desire for “individuality”, it would be difficult to drum up public support that allows Porsche owners the “right” to circumvent rules millions have to follow.

Tuning and warranties, that’s another issue.

Consider ourselves lucky that we don’t live in Germany or UK and have to pass their inspections.

r00t61

You guys that are debating the pros/cons of gas vs electric vs fuel cell vs Mr Fusion/etc are missing the point.

The government doesn't want you driving cars, period. Policy directives at certain 4 and 5-letter agencies - directives that outlive whatever politician happens to inhabit the white house - make it clear that they are gleefully waiting for the day when they can ban all manned cars outright. The draft legislation is already written; they just need the political momentum to get it passed.

You are not going to be allowed to own a manned car. What the government wants, is for all cars to be autonomous, and rented on a "as-needed" model like Uber or Lyft. E.g., you request a ride; a car gets automatically dispatched to you; it drops you off; you pay; and it moves on to its next job.

It will be done in the name of "public safety" and "environment", and you will be forced to go along.

ipse dixit

This RPM issue comes up every couple of years and never goes anywhere.

Just good internet fodder.

Bud Taylor

Perhaps but I would love to hear from APR on this who I know discontinued their stage 2 tune. Grapevine says it was from being pressured but may or may not be true.

DriverDaily

The whole reason the EPA is cracking down is because people use off-road parts on road. Enforcing this at the company level is actually a pretty light touch from my perspective as somebody who always runs cats.


This RPM Act is just begging to turn the issue into a national partisan fight. If that happens you can bet the EPA is going to want to target consumers who use racecar parts on street cars through some expensive federalized MOT and TUV style inspections that will really be a PITA.

Southbranch

Although my GTS is stock, I've made a few performance mods to my '94 RX7. But there are 2 sides to every coin. Ever had some diesel pickup driver with Porsche Envy pull up next to you at a stoplight and "roll coal" when the light turns green?

stout

^ If APR's move was driven by the EPA, that's a bummer.

Would love to hear from APR or any other tuner willing to address the matter, and thanks for the point-to on the video, Bud. I looked up the article, and it has me thinking this is less "Car Culture vs the EPA" and more about egregious exhaust mods on a tiny % of the vehicle population.

From the article:

By far, the biggest category of vehicle affected by the passage of the RPM Act would be diesel-powered trucks…

…at its 2018 DC political event, SEMA brought along reps from Magnaflow, who was in the midst of settling with EPA for nearly 6,000 diesel defeat devices sold, for which they were fined $612,849…

…EPA enforcement has found that roughly 1 in 10 diesel pick-ups sold with emissions controls have been tampered with, or just over 500,000 vehicles … the excess pollution from the trucks SEMA is trying to protect is equivalent to at least ten dieselgate scandals

…another tuner, who obviously declined to put himself on the record said, “I can say that I have nearly $500,000 in cash set aside for this type of situation, because we all know that if we’re doing it (tuning illegally), the EPA is coming.”

…Justin Holder of Confederate Diesel, who told investigators “I can blow as much smoke as l want with this truck and you can’t do anything about it.”

I doubt the coal roller mentality aligns with the majority of car enthusiasts—many of whom probably support the freedom to mod cars within reason rather than without any restraints.




^ Bingo.

The RPM Act or things like it have popped up every so many years. What has changed this time around is manufacturers cheating on emissions at a grand scale plus the proliferation of modified diesel trucks specifically built to make giant black clouds. The latter may bring down the whole house, which is a pity because most people looking for more performance have been building efficient engines—which by their nature tend to run clean. I normally support SEMA, but if it's fighting for blanket protections that benefit coal rollers by lumping the rest of the industry in with them, I'm afraid it's only hastening its own end.

ipse dixit

SEMA's stance on this is a bit bewildering.

But that said, like all other times the RPM act has come up, I just don't see it ever gaining any traction. Especially as this issue is really going to be subsumed under the whole green/EV crusade that is happening nationally and on a state/local level. It's like trying to make the steak in a Beef Wellington more tender when the chef has decided to serve Pizza.

c1pher

The other aspect of this is that you will not be in control. If a ride isn’t available, you wait. Or if there is another COVID, you can’t leave. Coming and going as you please will be over and tracked completely.

stout

It really is. May end up cutting its nose off.

^ I just don't see the near-term "auto utopia" that some seem to believe is an inevitability.

Covid alone has dealt the idea of shared ride pods a serious setback, areas with high density housing (multi-level) can't support an entirely EV fleet with rooftop solar, and, conversely, the ride-sharing/pod model doesn't work at all in rural areas (think County Fair, let alone mass evac). I can see (a lot) more EVs in the suburbs, and there may be an EV in our future as a get-around now that we've gone solar—but I just don't see the 100% autonomous/pod/EV future in the short term that others seem to.

r00t61

Firstly, since when has a political agenda ever been stopped by things like logistics or reality?

And the corner cases you suggest have already been considered:
1. Corona - you won't be allowed to ride in a podcar without a "vaccine certificate/passport" - precedent has already been established by the airlines/cruise companies

2. Can't support at volume/scale in urban areas due to energy requirements - they already have a model to institute reactive surge pricing so that only the rich and/or desperate will hire a podcar at peak times - models have been built from volumes of surge pricing datasets from the ride-share companies

3. Rural areas - understand that the bureaucrats at these agencies don't care about rural America. They DGAF. Nevertheless, their approach is two-fold - (a) for people that can claim to be part of a commercial farming operation, they'll receive a tax exemption that lets them keep using their V10 Powerstroke diesel for actual work. (b) For people that live in these areas but can't be classified as farmers, they'll have to pay a "legacy vehicle operator's license" fee - think CA/OR-levels of fees in order to run your non-autonomous car, with additional fees levied if your car has committed the double sin of being non-autonomous AND gas-powered. It's designed to be punitive so that Mr Bob Smith of RuralTown, USA eventually says "I just can't afford to keep the car" and gives up.

vanlieremead

Not in my lifetime. Just pay the gas.