§ 1068.501 How do I report emission-related defects?

This section addresses the certificate holder's responsibility to investigate and report emission-related defects in design, materials, or workmanship. The provisions of this section do not limit your liability under this part or the Clean Air Act. For example, selling an engine/equipment that does not conform to your application for certification is a violation of § 1068.101(a)(1) independent of the requirements of this section. The requirements of this section apply separately to each certificate holder if there is more than one certificate holder for the equipment.

(a) General provisions. As a certifying manufacturer, you must investigate in certain circumstances whether engines/equipment that have been introduced into U.S. commerce under your certificate have incorrect, improperly installed, or otherwise defective emission-related components or systems. This includes defects in design, materials, or workmanship. You must also send us reports as specified by this section.

(1) This section addresses defects for any of the following emission-related components or systems containing the following components:

(i) Electronic control units, aftertreatment devices, fuel-metering components, EGR-system components, crankcase-ventilation valves, all components related to charge-air compression and cooling, and all sensors associated with any of these components.

(ii) For engines and equipment subject to evaporative emission standards, fuel tanks, fuel caps, and fuel lines and connectors.

(iii) Any other component whose primary purpose is to reduce emissions.

(iv) Any other component whose failure would commonly increase emissions of any regulated pollutant without significantly degrading engine/equipment performance.

(2) The requirements of this section relate to defects in any of the components or systems identified in paragraph (a)(1) of this section if the defects might affect any of the parameters or specifications in Appendix II of this part or might otherwise affect the emissions of any regulated pollutant.

(3) For the purposes of this section, defects do not include damage to emission-related components or systems (or maladjustment of parameters) caused by owners improperly maintaining or abusing their engines/equipment.

(4) The requirements of this section do not apply to emission control information labels. Note however, that § 1068.101(a)(1) prohibits the sale of engines/equipment without proper labels, which also applies to misprinted labels.

(5) You must track the information specified in paragraph (b)(1) of this section. You must assess this data at least every three months to evaluate whether you exceed the thresholds specified in paragraphs (e) and (f) of this section. Where thresholds are based on a percentage of engines/equipment in the family, use actual U.S.-directed production volumes for the whole model year when they become available. Use projected production figures until the actual production figures become available. You are not required to collect additional information other than that specified in paragraph (b)(1) of this section before reaching a threshold for an investigation specified in paragraph (e) of this section.