And stop giving legal advice unless you're a lawyer, I doubt anyone talking about "$10,000 federal fines" has A)ever gotten one or B)knows your local laws.
I don't have to be a lawyer to know that removing cats is illegal under federal law. In the US local laws don't matter on that front, a state could make a law that says it's ok to remove cats, but it would be superceded by the federal law that says it isn't. And as I stated before, the feds prefer going after shops. It's much more effective to make an example out of a shop as that will scare most other shops into compliance. Since the average joe doesn't have the equipment or know how to weld up their own exhaust that takes care of most of the problem.
I looked up Oklahoma's vehicle requirements. It used to be illegal to run sidepipes or to put duals on a vehicle that came with single exhaust, but they revamped the laws a few years ago. The only exhaust rule is that it's illegal to modify your vehicle to make it louder. Hasn't stopped anybody, though. I keep thinking my truck's too loud, and then some dude in a new Mustang or Camaro passes by crackling and burbling and I recognize they aren't enforcing any sound laws.
I saw someone in OK get pulled over for loud exhaust on live pd, so they do enforce it, but likely just as an "I need an excuse to pull this person over" type of thing.
While I don't think any of us have ever received a federal emissions fine, Diesel Brothers did. That's a shot across the bow. Stronger enforcement is coming. Will it ever get down to the enthusiast level? Likely not, but you won't be mail-ordering "race only" parts without some kind of proof you have a "race only" vehicle.
Exactly, likely the only way individuals ever end up with them currently is if you're being over the top obvious about it. Squeaky wheel gets the grease & all that.
My guess is the closest to enthusiasts it'll get besides not being able to get some parts is random epa raids at race tracks. That's a place that would probably have enough modified vehicles to make it worth their time.
If the rpm act actually passes, it will likely end up with a requirement that anything considered a dedicated race vehicle under that law would have to be registered as such, and to be able to deregister it & return it to the street it would have to pass an inspection confirming that all emissions components had been installed.
The worst case I can see is the feds pressuring states to require at least a visual inspection using the threat of withholding federal funds (same way they pushed states to raise the drinking age). From my limited knowledge of politics & law that would require congress to be on board with it. Right now I can't see something like that passing, but who knows what will happen in the future.
Honestly the fact that bigdaddiesgarage or whatever the site is for that guy selling o2 sensor spacers and cat-cheaters is still up, is very telling, that they really don't give a ****. It'd very easy for the feds to grab that IP and shut him down.
There's a ton of sites selling those sort of things, it'd be like whack a mole trying to shut them all down. My guess (and I stress this is a guess) is if they're doing anything it's going to hit as many of them as possible at the same time. Probably making sure they can get warrants for customer data too so they can send everyone that's bought one a nasty note.
That said, those do have a semi legitimate use, my mom's old impala has an aftermarket cat & the pcm hates it. Put a spacer on it to get the light to go off because she'd worry about the light being on.
MAYBE the fact that the Diesel Bros had a TV show showing off all the illegal **** they did was the reason they got dinged.
That's exactly why they got dinged. They made themselves a giant blip on the epa's radar. Same reason the youtuber that filmed himself jumping a creek & then driving through it got charged by the PA fish & boat commission. If he hadn't filmed it & posted it where they could find it they likely would have never known.
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