Photo: Discovery
SALT LAKE CITY — The Diesel Brothers, the reality TV stars who refurbish diesel trucks in Davis County, have been found in violation of the federal Clean Air Act for selling 17 trucks without pollution control equipment.
The company was sued in federal court by Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment. The group’s attorney, Reed Zaras, says they bought one of the trucks before filing the lawsuit.
“We took it to an EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) certified laboratory. They found that the pollution from that truck increased 30 to 40 times what a stock truck would do,” Zaras said.
He also accused the company of installing the cheat devices and selling them to other companies.
But defense attorney Cole Cannon says those 17 trucks are concept vehicles, and many are sitting at the company store, never having been driven.
“These trucks were, in many cases, bought already with deleted or modified emissions systems,” Cannon said.
Nevertheless, the judge found that all companies are liable for selling vehicles without pollution control equipment, even if they didn’t know it was missing.
Diesel Brothers may also have to pay $100,000 to clean air programs in Utah if they do not appeal the ruling.