Is Your Neighbor’s “Performance” Truck Killing You?
Blame Moser’s Repair & Performance.
A Maryland auto shop ran an illegal pollution-stripping operation on at least 35 trucks and diesel vehicles, pumped those vehicles back onto public roads breathing unfiltered exhaust into shared air, and the entire federal consequence for doing so was $6,000 ($6,000 — the cost of approximately four months of groceries for a family of four).
The Operation: What They Sold and How They Got Caught
Moser’s Repair & Performance, LLC operated out of 261 Frederick St., Suite 49 in Hagerstown, Maryland. On the surface: a standard auto shop. Underneath: a business actively selling parts specifically designed to destroy pollution controls that federal law requires to be on every new truck sold in the United States.
On January 14, 2021, the EPA sent Moser’s an Information Request Letter under Section 208(a) of the Clean Air Act, demanding records to determine whether the shop had violated federal emissions law. Moser’s responded via email on April 7, 2021; May 31, 2021; July 12, 2021; May 19, 2022; and August 2, 2022. Those responses, combined with other information gathered during the EPA’s investigation, became the rope the agency used to document the violations.
Based on Moser’s own records, the EPA determined that the shop sold, offered for sale, or installed at least 35 defeat devices between approximately October 2019 and January 2021. Each one of those 35 transactions is a separate federal violation under Section 203(a)(3)(B) of the Clean Air Act.
What a Defeat Device Actually Does to Your Air
The EPA requires new vehicles to carry certified emission control systems. These include Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) systems that reduce nitrogen oxide output, Diesel Particulate Filters (DPF) that trap soot before it exits the tailpipe, Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems that convert toxic NOx gases into nitrogen and water, and on-board diagnostic (OBD) systems that monitor all of the above for any malfunction.
A defeat device removes, bypasses, or disables these systems. When an EGR deletion kit goes in, the vehicle stops controlling its nitrogen oxide output. When a DPF is replaced with a “straight pipe,” soot and particulate matter flow directly out the exhaust and into the surrounding air. When the OBD system is defeated, the vehicle no longer reports that any of this is happening. The truck looks legal. It isn’t.
Moser’s sold both categories. Appendix A of the EPA consent agreement documents EGR deletion kits and exhaust/piping components designed to remove or bypass DPF and SCR systems, installed on Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford, and RAM trucks spanning model years 2003 through 2020.
Defeat Devices Sold by Vehicle Brand (35 Total Violations)
The Non-Financial Ledger: What $6,000 Can’t Buy Back
Every vehicle that left Moser’s shop with a defeat device installed became a rolling violation of the air quality standards that every person nearby depends on. These are not abstract regulatory infractions. Diesel exhaust containing unfiltered particulate matter and elevated nitrogen oxides is a documented cause of respiratory disease, cardiovascular illness, and premature death. The families living near the roads where these trucks travel never signed a consent agreement. Nobody asked them.
The EPA’s own regulatory framework explains exactly what these emission controls do and why they exist. Particulate matter filters trap soot before it exits the tailpipe. EGR systems cut the formation of nitrogen oxides inside the engine. SCR systems convert what NOx does form into harmless nitrogen gas and water. When a shop installs a deletion kit, every one of those protections disappears. The truck doesn’t just pollute more; it pollutes at a level that pre-dates decades of Clean Air Act progress. It becomes, legally and chemically, a 2020 truck pretending it was made before any of these rules existed.
Thirty-five of those vehicles went back on public roads. Not a test track. Not a closed course. Public roads, through neighborhoods, near schools, near parks, near the windows of people who have no idea the truck idling next to them at a red light has had its pollution controls gutted. The EPA investigation covered a period spanning October 2019 through January 2021, which means these defeat-device trucks were operating during a period when respiratory health was already at the center of a national public health emergency.
The betrayal embedded in this story runs deeper than the exhaust. Auto shops carry a public trust. Customers bring their vehicles in because they cannot diagnose complex engine systems themselves. When a shop owner knows, or should know, that a part “bypasses, defeats, or renders inoperative” a federally mandated emission control system, and sells it anyway, the shop weaponizes that trust against the public. People who bought these “performance” upgrades may not have understood they were purchasing an environmental violation. The people downwind of those trucks had no choice in the matter at all.
Legal Receipts: The EPA’s Own Words
“EPA determined that Respondent sold, offered for sale, or installed at least at least thirty-five (35) parts or components which render inoperative emission control systems on EPA-Certified Motor Vehicles or Motor Vehicle engines, between approximately October 2019 and January 2021.” EPA Consent Agreement, Paragraph 25 — Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law
“The Defeat Devices referenced in paragraph 25 above and listed in Appendix A hereto include: (i) EGR deletion kits or components used for the removal or bypass of EGR systems; and (ii) DPF or Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) delete kits (‘straight pipes’) to remove or bypass the DPF or SCR systems.” EPA Consent Agreement, Paragraph 26 — Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law
“Respondent knew or should have known that each of the 35 Defeat Devices referenced in paragraph 25, above, and identified and listed in Appendix A, were being sold, offered for sale, or installed for such use or put to such use.” EPA Consent Agreement, Paragraph 31 — Conclusions of Law
“By selling, offering for sale, or installing the 35 Defeat Devices referenced in paragraph 25, above, and identified and listed in Appendix A, Respondent committed 35 violations of CAA Section 203(a)(3)(B), 42 U.S.C. § 7522(a)(3)(B).” EPA Consent Agreement, Paragraph 32 — Conclusions of Law
“EPA reserves the right to commence action against any person, including Respondent, in response to any condition which EPA determines may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to the public health, public welfare, or the environment.” EPA Consent Agreement, Paragraph 51 — Reservation of Rights
Societal Impact Mapping: The Damage Nobody Pays For
Public Health: Your Lungs, Their Business Decision
The EPA built its entire Clean Air Act Title II framework around one premise: uncontrolled mobile source emissions kill people. Hydrocarbons (HC), particulate matter (PM), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and carbon monoxide (CO) are the four pollutants at the center of the vehicle certification regime. These aren’t theoretical threats. Diesel PM is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. NOx is a precursor to ground-level ozone and smog. CO at elevated levels causes oxygen deprivation in the bloodstream.
When Moser’s installed an EGR deletion kit, the vehicle’s NOx output climbed back to pre-regulation levels. When a DPF was replaced with a straight pipe, soot particles began exiting the exhaust unfiltered. The EPA’s consent agreement confirms that the OBD system, the vehicle’s built-in watchdog that monitors all these controls for malfunction, was also rendered inoperative as part of these deletions. This means that even if a future owner wanted to know their vehicle’s emissions were out of compliance, the diagnostic system designed to tell them had been silenced.
These 35 trucks went back onto roads in and around Hagerstown, Maryland. Hagerstown is a working-class city. The people most exposed to roadway diesel emissions are those who cannot afford to live far from major roads: renters, hourly workers, the elderly, and children. The community bore the health cost of Moser’s business decisions without compensation, without notice, and without recourse from this settlement.
Environmental Degradation: The Air Belongs to Everyone
The Clean Air Act’s mobile source provisions exist because vehicle emissions are cumulative. One truck running a defeat device is a marginal impact. Thirty-five trucks, operating for fifteen-plus months, compounding the emissions of every other vehicle on the road, represent a measurable degradation of regional air quality. The EPA’s own statutory framework identifies the harm as extending to “public welfare” and “the environment,” terms that encompass ecosystems, visibility, and atmospheric chemistry alongside direct human health.
NOx emissions from uncontrolled diesel engines contribute to acid deposition, which damages forests, soils, and waterways. Diesel PM settles on vegetation, water surfaces, and soil. These are not reversible harms that a $6,000 ($6,000 — less than the cost of a single commercial air purification unit for a small building) penalty cleans up. The fine goes to the federal government. The pollution stays in the environment.
Economic Inequality: Who Bears the Cost When the Fine Is $6,000
The EPA’s penalty calculation required it to consider, among other things, the gravity of the violation, the economic benefit or savings resulting from the violation, the size of the business, and its history of compliance. The consent agreement reveals that Moser’s submitted financial statements for years 2020, 2021, 2022, and partial year 2023, and claimed an inability to pay a larger civil penalty. The EPA accepted this and settled for $6,000 ($6,000 — roughly what a minimum-wage worker earns in six weeks before taxes).
The statutory maximum penalty per violation under CAA Section 205 at the applicable inflation-adjusted rate runs into tens of thousands of dollars per violation. With 35 separate violations, a maximum-penalty approach could have reached into seven figures. Instead, the final number is $6,000, payable within 30 days, with interest waived if paid on time. The economic benefit Moser’s gained from selling these defeat devices over fifteen months almost certainly exceeded the fine. The business model, even after enforcement, remains profitable.
The people who breathe the exhaust from these modified trucks receive nothing from this settlement. There is no remediation fund. There is no community health monitoring program. There is no requirement that the vehicles be recalled and repaired. The consent agreement resolves only the EPA’s civil penalty claims. The trucks remain on the road. The air remains affected. The settlement amount goes to the U.S. Treasury, not to the neighborhoods that absorbed the pollution.
The Timeline of Violations: 15 Months of Illegal Sales
Defeat Device Sales Timeline (Oct 2019 – Jan 2021)
The “Cost of a Life” Metric
What Now? Who to Watch and What to Demand
The Company
Moser’s Repair & Performance, LLC is run by Evan Moser, who corresponded directly with EPA investigators and signed the consent agreement on behalf of the company. The business remains open at 261 Frederick St., Suite 49, Hagerstown, MD 21795. The EPA confirmed service via the email address mosersrepair@gmail.com.
You can read the consent agreement on this case by visiting this following EPA link: https://yosemite.epa.gov/OA/RHC/EPAAdmin.nsf/Filings/E8E75C7FB00DDB1585258B080057F19C/$File/Mosers%20Repair%20Performance%20LLC_CAA%20Title%202%20CAFO_April%2023%202024.pdf
Explore by category
Product Safety Violations
When companies sell dangerous goods, consumers pay the price.
View Cases →Financial Fraud & Corruption
Lies, scams, and executive impunity that distort markets.
View Cases →
