Rudy’s Performance Parts Inc., an automotive parts manufacturer located in North Carolina, and its owner, Aaron Rudolf, have agreed to a combined payment of $10 million in fines and penalties for their involvement in producing and selling emissions defeat devices that violate the Clean Air Act.
The company used these devices to disable or remove essential emissions controls in vehicles, an act that led to Rudy’s pleading guilty to federal conspiracy charges. In a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden, Rudy’s was sentenced to a $2.4 million criminal fine and placed under a three-year period of organizational probation as part of their plea.
Rudolf, who previously pleaded guilty in April for similar emissions tampering allegations affecting around 300 diesel trucks, received a sentence of three years of probation along with a $600,000 criminal fine.
Additionally, the Justice Department, representing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), filed a civil lawsuit against Rudy’s and Rudolf in 2022 for violations of the Clean Air Act. This lawsuit cited the manufacturing, selling, and installation of defeat devices as well as non-compliance with official EPA information requests.
A consent decree filed on July 29, 2024, mandated that Rudy’s and Rudolf pay a $7 million civil penalty. This decree also prohibits them from future activities involving the manufacturing, selling, or offering of defeat devices. Furthermore, they are restricted from transferring any intellectual property that might facilitate the production or sale of such devices and from profiting from any related businesses. The decree awaits court approval.
Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim highlighted the environmental hazards posed by defeat devices, emphasizing their contribution to increased pollution levels and associated health risks. The importance of upholding the Clean Air Act to ensure public health was echoed by EPA Assistant Administrator David M. Uhlmann, as well as U.S. Attorneys Matthew M. Graves and Sandra J. Hairston.
Court documents reveal that Rudy’s sold defeat devices known as “delete tuners,” which altered vehicle on-board diagnostic systems to circumvent emissions controls. Their leading products, the Mini Maxx and XRT Pro delete tuners, were replicated by Rudy’s after the original manufacturer ceased production, allowing continued sales.
Between 2014 and mid-2019, Rudy’s and Rudolf offered over 250,000 products designed to eliminate or disable emissions controls, accruing about $33 million in revenue. The impact of these sales led to substantial increases in vehicle emissions, equivalently raising pollution levels as if over 1 million additional vehicles were added to U.S. roads.
The EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division carried out the investigation, while the consent decree has been officially lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, where it is subject to a 30-day public comment period and final court approval.
