Diesel Brothers Fined by for emissions tampering

Diesel Brothers Fined $850,000 Fine for Tampering With Truck Emissions

The Discovery Channel hosts a show called Diesel Brothers. The program follows a group of friends in Utah who repair and customize pickup trucks. The stars of the show are actually just friends David “Heavy D” Sparks and David “Diesel Dave” Kiley. They own a shop and have a website that sells clothing. 

The shop specializes in modifying vehicles to improve performance, mostly by defeating emissions devices and rejiggering the vehicle’s computer software. In 2016 the Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environmentcomplaint filed suit against the Diesel Brothers for that illegally removing pollution control equipment from their trucks, installing defective emission control parts and either selling or operating those trucks.

The Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment purchased a truck from Sparks Motors and sent it to Denver for testing. The emissions testing showed that the truck emitted 36 times more pollution and 21 times more particulate matter than the trucks should have emitted if the factory emissions devices had not been removed or tampered with. The tests showed that the vehicle’s diesel particulate filters (DPF) and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) systems had been removed or defeated.

Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment claimed that the pickups built and modified by the Diesel Brothers were grossly over-polluting. Diesel Brothers attorney Cole Cannon explained that 17 trucks were found with emission control issues.

A judge has ruled that complaints that the “Diesel Brothers” modified and sold trucks that violated the Clean Air Act and Utah law are true. The Diesel Brothers must pay $761,451 to the Federal Government and $90,000 to Davis County, UT for violating the Clean Air Act and Utah environmental laws. In addition, they must remove all emissions defeat mechanisms they installed on those vehicles.

In addition to the fines, the two stars and their fellow defendants are banned from removing diesel emissions equipment as well as selling vehicles that have been modified as such. If they violate pollution standards they could be found in contempt of court.

Court documents show that none of the fines can be avoided or dismissed in bankruptcy, according to KSL.

The Diesel Brothers reality show chronicles the adventures of Heavy D, Diesel Dave and their crew as they work on various larger-than-life vehicle projects. Whether it be modifying customers’ trucks or building their own to give away in sales-related sweepstakes, essentially everything is tied to making pickups bigger, louder, and more outrageous than the rest. The Discovery program is more or less the result of a diesel-related retail empire that Sparks and the others have created with customization culture at its core.

Prior to their television days, the crew made a name for themselves through YouTube and social media with all sorts of antics, often tied to or directly through “rolling coal” on other cars and, sometimes, each other.