National Clean Diesel Campaign
Safety Notice for the Donaldson DFM Diesel Multi-stage Filter
In March 2010, the Donaldson Company initiated a product safety campaign to correct problems
with the Donaldson DFM Diesel Multi-stage Filter (DMF). In addition, on May 17, 2010, the
California Air Resources Board (CARB) revoked the verification for the Donaldson DMF.l
This document provides important background information about this safety campaign and
revocation related to the installation and use of the Donaldson DMF outside of California.
Devices installed in California are regulated by CARB.
• As verified by CARB, the DMF requires certain operating criteria including minimum
exhaust temperature requirements. The DMF, as originally provided, did not include a
backpressure monitoring system. It appears that in some cases the DMF may become over
loaded, possibly due to inadequate exhaust temperatures or high emission levels, and without
a backpressure monitoring system this condition may not be detected by the operator.
Donaldson initiated a product safety campaign in part to address these issues.
• The DMF safety campaign includes, but is not limited to, vehicle inspection procedures,
checking exhaust backpressure on existing installations, installing a new outlet section, a heat
shield, and a backpressure and temperature monitoring and driver notification system.
• All installations completed on DMFs shipped prior to March 1, 2010 are subject to this safety
campaign.
• The safety campaign is being conducted at no cost to vehicle owners.
• Donaldson is notifying owners of the products through its dealer network. Donaldson
representatives and distributors have been instructed as to the appropriate modifications and
will perform the modifications at Donaldson's expense.
With regard to CARB's revocation of its verification of the DMF device:
• For projects funded under EPA's National Grant Program, no purchases or sales contracts
finalized after May 17, 2010 may be used for acquisition of the DMF unless or until it is
verified by EPA or CARB.
1 This device was originally verified by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on December 16, 2005 for
certain on-highway engine applications. The applications, installation requirements, and operating criteria are
described in CARE Executive Orders DE-05-012 (http://www.arb.ca.gov/diesel/verdev/level2/eo de05012.pdf)
and DE-05-013 (http://www.arb.ca.gov/diesel/verdev/level2/eo de05013.pdf)
United States Office of Transportation and Air Quality
Environmental Protection EPA-420-B-10-032
Agency July 2010
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• For DMF purchases completed on or before May 17, grantees may, at their option, continue
with the procurement of devices. Please note that all installation and operating criteria must
meet those identified in CARB's original executive order (see footnote 1). Additionally, all
DMFs installed must incorporate, at the time of first installation, the changes included with
the safety campaign.
EPA is currently working with Donaldson to ascertain whether the modified DMF can be
verified and listed by EPA.
This guidance may be revised as EPA gains additional information.
EPA continues to strongly encourage vehicle owners and operators to properly maintain their
vehicles and retain vehicle maintenance and repair records. In addition, when retrofit
technologies specify certain operating criteria, such as exhaust temperature requirements, data
logging should be performed on each vehicle and owners should obtain and retain copies of
those data logging results and analyses for each vehicle installation.
For further technical information, please contact Fred Schmidt of Donaldson at
Fred.Schmidt@Donaldson.com or (952) 887-3835. For other questions, please email
cleandiesel@epa.gov.
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