Skip to footer

Utah doctors to sue TV's 'Diesel Brothers' for illegal modifications

Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment says it found online videos of Diesel Brothers stars demonstrating how to bypass a truck's emissions-control system, and advertising 'repair kits' meant for that purpose.

|
Carlos Osorio/AP/File
A Volkswagen diesel vehicle is tested in a test facility in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Sometimes reality-television fame comes with some unforeseen side effects.

A certain subset of car enthusiasts enjoy modifying large diesel trucks, something that has gained wider public attention on the Discovery Channel show Diesel Brothers.

The show focuses on a Utah shop that specializes in these modified trucks.

But now a group of environmentally-minded Utah doctors plans to sue the show's stars, alleging that they made illegal modifications to vehicles' pollution-control systems.

Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment (UPHE) informed the four men behind Diesel Brothers of its intention to file a lawsuit earlier this week, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.

UPHE claims to have found online videos in which the stars of Diesel Brothers demonstrate how to bypass a truck's emissions-control system, and advertise "repair kits" meant for that purpose.

Similar kits are available online, and are typically bought by owners looking to increase the performance of their diesel vehicles.

UPHE also claims to have been aware of other Utah shops performing similar work as far back as 2007, but is now specifically targeting the shop behind Diesel Brothers.

That business started out as DieselSellerz.com—a website that serves as a marketplace where users buy and sell modified diesel trucks, including ones built by the company's owners.

Most of the trucks displayed on the website and featured on the show are heavy-duty pickups from the Big Three Detroit automakers.

These types of modified trucks are often used for "rolling coal"—in which a truck is modified to discharge large plumes of black smoke.

UPHE has received many complaints about truck drivers rolling coal in its area of operation, Brian Moench—the group's president—told The Salt Lake Tribune.

Rolling coal theoretically constitutes a violation of the Clean Air Act, because it typically involves deliberately removing or modifying emissions-control equipment in such a way as to increase the amount of pollutants produced.

However, the heavy-duty trucks that most often get these modifications—and are most often featured on Diesel Brothers—aren't subject to the same regulations as passenger cars.

UPHE hopes to force the shop to cease its allegedly-illegal modifications, and would like to see the shop issue some sort of recall of its work as well.

This story originally appeared on GreenCarReports.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Utah doctors to sue TV's 'Diesel Brothers' for illegal modifications
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2016/0801/Utah-doctors-to-sue-TV-s-Diesel-Brothers-for-illegal-modifications
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe