Casper's Electronics Inc. Clean Air Act Settlement

WASHINGTON - The Department of Justice and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today a landmark settlement requiring Casper's Electronics, of Mundelein, Ill., to pay a penalty and stop selling devices that allow cars to release excess levels of pollution into the environment, in violation of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

Today's settlement, the first of its kind, requires Casper's to stop selling electronic devices-known as oxygen sensor simulators or "O2 Sims"-recall the devices, and pay more than $74,000 in civil penalties to the United States. An O2 Sim tricks an automobile engine's computer into sensing a properly functioning emission control system, even when the catalytic converter is missing or faulty. These "after-market" sensors are considered illegal "defeat devices" under the federal CAA.

Casper's has sold approximately 44,000 defeat devices through retailers and from its Web site since 2001. The EPA estimates that the increased emissions from installation of these devices over the life of the vehicles are 7,400 tons of hydrocarbons, 347,000 tons of carbon monoxide, and 6,000 tons of nitrogen oxides. This is equivalent to the emissions produced by a half-million cars with fully operational emission control systems over their lifetimes.

"Reliable and effective automobile pollution control systems are essential to protect human health and the environment from harmful automobile emissions," said Granta Nakayama, the EPA's Assistant Administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance. " Casper 's sale of the oxygen sensor simulator defeat devices over a multi-year period is a serious violation because it facilitated the removal or malfunctioning of motor vehicle catalytic converters, which are the primary emission controls devices to prevent excessive pollution from cars and trucks."