A Ford dealership in Nebraska was fined for being an accessory after the fact to a Clean Air Act violation. Moody Motor Company in Niobrara has to pay a $125 special assessment fee and a $39,741.95 fine to the Environmental Protection Agency, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska.
Here’s how this “accessory after the fact”-ness of it all came about. Basically, back in January of 2022, the EPA began investigating a Dallas company called Diesel Performance of Texas that sold products to modify exhaust systems. During that investigation, it found that the company had sold about 14 of these kids to Moody Ford between 2019 and 2022, according to Automotive News. Then, a few months later in April of 2022, the EPA executed a search warrant on Moody and interviewed technicians.
They admitted to the agency that they performed aftermarket delete and tune work that violated the Clean Air Act. The techs said they installed between 10 and 20 systems on cars. One technician told the EPA he did the work “because the truck was a trade in that needed a lot of work done on it to include having sensors out and that this was easier than replacing the sensors,” according to Automotive News. Yikes, bro. That vehicle was later found and confirmed to have been illegally modified.
Let this be a lesson to you all: don’t illegally modify over a dozen cars to be in violation of the Clean Air Act, otherwise, the government is going to come knocking at your door asking for $40,000.