United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
January 1978
&EPA Do You
Own a Car?
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Do You Own a If so, you should be aware of a new
Car? law. As of August 8, 1977, all
automobile service or repair facilities
are prohibited by Federal law from
knowingly tampering with a car's
emission controls.
This new law is contained in the 1977
Amendments to the United States Clean
Air Act, and it is the primary reason
why you should not ask your
automobile repair facility to remove or
disconnect some part of your car's
emission control system in hopes of
improving your car's gas mileage and
driveability. If a repair facility breaks
this law, it will be subject to a civil
penalty of up to $2,500.
In addition to the law, there are other
good reasons why tampering should
not be done:
• in most cases tampering will not
improve a car's gas mileage and
driveability and may make them worse.
• the one sure result of tampering is
that it will increase your car's emissions
and add to air pollution.
• tampering is an expensive waste,
nullifying emission controls that on a
new model car may have cost you
between $200 and $300.
Another important point. The U.S.
Clean Air Act does not contain a
prohibition against car owners
tampering with their cars' emission
controls. But nearly all States do have
such a prohibition. You can be
prosecuted and fined under State law
for any tampering that you do to a car's
pollution controls.
This leaflet has been prepared by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
to answer the questions that you are
likely to ask concerning the new law.
Please read it carefully. Your
cooperation will help ensure that your
car's pollution controls will continue to
work properly and protect the air we
breathe from pollution.
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What Is the
Purpose of the
Anti-
Tannpering
Law?
The tampering prohibition was passed
by Congress to make sure that cars in
use retain the emission control designs
and functions that were built into them
by their manufacturers. The law is
necessary for reasons of public health.
Motor vehicles contribute more than
one half of the total amount of man-
made air pollution in this country. They
emit nearly three-quarters of the total
amount of the poisonous gas, carbon
monoxide. They also emit over one-
third of the hydrocarbons and one-third
of the oxides of nitrogen, two major
causes of the unhealthy smog that
hangs over a great many of our cities
and suburbs.
To protect the health of the American
public, Congress established light-duty
motor vehicle emission standards that
have to be met by every new car sold in
this country. Each manufacturer is
required to certify that his design will
enable the car to meet these standards
for the length of its useful life.
Tampering, however, changes the
car's certified design and causes the car
to exceed emission standards. Several
surveys have shown tampering to be
widespread. Some service and repair
facilities have even advertised as one of
their services the removal of emission
controls to improve gas mileage. To
stop practices like these and to make
sure that cars in use continue to comply
with emission standards throughout
their useful life. Congress broadened
the anti-tampering provision to cover all
repair facilities and motor vehicle fleet
operations.
What Is New The prohibition against tampering
About the contained in the Clean Air Act
New Anti- Amendments of 1970 applied to any
Tampering person with respect to a new car before
Law? it is sold and delivered to the purchaser
and only to manufacturers and car
dealers with respect to sold cars. This
law applies to some 25,000 to 30,000
new car dealers, and violators are
subject to civil penalties of up to
$10,000 for each car tampered with.
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Now, the new amendment broadens
the tampering prohibition to cover
300,000 to 350,000 motor vehicle repair
facilities and several hundred thousand
fleet operators. All repair facility
owners, commercial mechanics, and
fleet operators are now prohibited from
tampering. Violators of this provision of
the law are subject to a civil penalty of
up to $2,500 for each motor vehicle or
motor vehicle engine tampered with.
What Exactly Tampering is removing, disconnecting,
Is Tampering? damaging, or in any way rendering
ineffective any emission control device
or element of design installed on a
motor vehicle or motor vehicle engine.
Tampering may include:
• removing or rendering inoperative
such devices as the catalytic converter,
air pump, and EGR valve.
• disconnecting vacuum lines and
electrical or mechanical portions of the
pollution control system such as
electrical solenoids or vacuum-activated
valves.
• adjusting an element of a car's
emission control design out of line with
the manufacturer's specifications.
• knowingly installing a replacement
part that is not equivalent in design and
function to the part that was originally
on the car. Example: incorrect EGR
valve. (This, however, does not mean
that you have to use replacement parts
sold by the motor vehicle manufacturer
or its franchised dealers).
• adding on a part that was not
originally certified on the car. Example:
installation of dual carburetors to
replace a single carburetor.
• enlarging the fuel filler restriction
inlet to allow the use of regular leaded
gas in cars that require unleaded gas.
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Can't Evidence suggests that tampering can
Tampering do little to improve gas mileage and
Improve Gas driveafaility, and in some cases will
Mileage and worsen them. One reason for this is
Driveabiifty? that the catalytic converter—the primary
means of pollution control on most cars
made after 1974—has no negative effect
on gas mileage and driveability. In fact,
the catalyst has helped make it possible
for cars with emission controls to
achieve the same or even better gas
mileage than cars had in 1967 before
emission controls were installed on
cars. Thus, damaging or disconnecting
a catalyst can only result in increased
emissions and the waste of an
expensive piece of equipment.
Studies also show that tampering
with pre-catalyst equipped cars will not
improve gas mileage. In 1974, the
Environmental Protection Agency
delivered a number of 1973 and 1974
cars to a representative sample of non-
dealer service garages advertising that
they could improve fuel economy and
asked them to do what they could to
increase the gas mileage of these cars.
The most frequent result was that both
emissions and fuel economy were
made worse. About two-thirds of the
cars lost fuel economy and increased in
emissions.
There are several possible reasons for
these results. One is that emission
controls are not simply stuck on a car in
such a way that they can be harmlessly
removed or maladjusted. Emission
control is part of the total design and
function of many components of a car's
engine, including the carburetor,
distributor, intake manifold, and EGR
valve. When a mechanic changes the
emission control design of one of these
components, he is also likely to affect
its other functions, often adversely.
Maladjustments of such parts,
therefore, often result in loss of fuel
efficiency as well as increased
emissions. In addition, carburetor
setting, ignition timing, compression
ratio, and EGR all affect an engine's
durability. Tampering can shorten an
engine's life and cause performance
problems at the same time.
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Can Keeping a Yes. Maintaining your car according to
Car Well the manufacturer's specifications will
Tuned HeJp almost, always enable your car to get
Gas Mileage better gas mileage and lower
and Emission emissions. Studies of emissions
Control at the inspection/maintenance programs show
Same Time? that cars failing the emission test get
four to ten percent better gas mileage
once their emission controls have been
professionally serviced. In addition,
keeping your car well tuned will almost
always improve driveability and
lengthen the life of your car's engine.
Can Tampering
Void a Car's
Warranty?
Yes. Under the Clean Air Act, car
manufacturers are required to provide a
warranty covering emission control
devices for a period of five years or
fifty-thousand miles, whichever comes
first.
However, when a car's emission
controls have been tampered with, or
when leaded gas is used in cars
requiring unleaded, a car manufacturer
may not be obliged to honor warranty
rights. The car manufacturer or dealer
can justifiably argue that the car has
not been properly maintained according
to the manufacturer's specifications.
What Can I Do The emission controls installed on
to Help? motor vehicles and motor vehicle
engines are there to reduce the
pollution from these sources to help
meet national ambient air quality
standards which were established to
protect public health. The removal or
rendering inoperative of these devices
defeats a vital portion of the nation's
program to clean up the air. You can
help clean the air by not requesting to
have your emission controls tampered
with but instead, make sure the
mechanic follows the specifications
recommended by the manufacturer
for best performance and emission
control.
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If you should learn of automobile
service or repair facilities that have a
policy of breaking the anti-tampering
law, or have further questions, contact
the Regional Office of the Environmental
Protection Agency for your State, or the
Mobile Source Enforcement Division (EN-
340), Washington, D.C. 20460. EPA
Regional Offices are located in Boston,
New York City, Philadelphia, Atlanta,
Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver,
San Francisco, and Seattle.
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United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of
Public Awareness (A-107)
Washington 0 C 20480
Official Business
• Penalty for Private Use
$300
e and
Postage an
Fees Paid
Environmental
Protection
H?A335
Third Class
Bulk
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