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submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago) by Joker@sh.itjust.works to c/news@lemmy.world

According to records filed in the case, Achtemeier conspired with mechanics in garages and operators of truck fleets to disable the anti-pollution software installed on diesel trucks.

Coconspirators who wanted to disable their trucks’ pollution control hardware system—a process commonly known as “deleting”—sought Achtemeier’s help to trick the truck’s software into believing the emissions control systems were still functional, a process known as “tuning.”

Monitoring software on a deleted truck will detect that the pollution control hardware is not functioning and will prevent the truck from running. Achtemeier disabled the monitoring software on his client’s trucks by connecting to laptops he had provided to various coconspirators. Some of the coconspirators would pass the laptop on to others seeking to have the anti-pollution software disabled on their trucks. Once the laptop was hooked up to the truck’s onboard computer, Achtemeier could access it from his computer and tune the software designed to slow the truck if the pollution control device was missing or malfunctioning. Achtemeier could “tune” trucks remotely, which enabled him to maximize his environmental impact and personal profit.

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[-] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 94 points 1 week ago

Sounds like an awful lot of work for... some reason.

[-] Nougat@fedia.io 27 points 1 week ago

Yeah, someone is going to have to explain to me how $4500 worth of emissions control deletion is worth the money.

[-] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 33 points 1 week ago

It sounds like it's just spite-modding with no benefits.

[-] Nougat@fedia.io 15 points 1 week ago

Nah, there's no way long haul truck owners are going to spend money just to be assholes. There's got to be profit in it somehow.

[-] tal@lemmy.today 2 points 6 days ago

My understanding from past reading is that there's a history of diesel trucks pulling off emissions control hardware to increase their MPG somewhat, so they save money on fuel. First ran into it when reading about the practice in Europe, but also happens here in North America.

I don't know whether it's possible to tweak the computer-controlled system to achieve a similar effect, but it'd make sense.

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[-] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 5 points 1 week ago

Im with you. I'd love to know why.

[-] Pirky@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)
[-] Nougat@fedia.io 12 points 1 week ago

I'm doing some reading here, too. Seems like the additional maintenance expense caused by the exhaust recirculation can be expensive over the life of the vehicle. This isn't just maintaining/reparing the EGR system, but also maintaining/replacing other engine components that have a shorter lifespan due to the emissions controls. This makes sense to me.

[-] subignition@fedia.io 1 points 1 week ago

It sounds like a pretty poor solution, but then we haven't meaningfully innovated on the internal combustion engine for how many years?

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[-] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

For semi-trucks at least, my cousin (who drives a truck) told me it costs him a lot of money to have the DEF systems on his truck and operate them, and it costs him money he would otherwise be making on his deliveries.

I thought he was an idiot, and hes risking his and everybody else's health around him with his attempts to defeat those systems. (Don't think he was ever successful at it)

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[-] cybervseas@lemmy.world 33 points 1 week ago

So it's a Captain Planet villain, but dumb.

[-] orclev@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago

Right, a Republican, exactly.

The way they've all reacted to climate change denialism by actively trying to make pollution as bad as possible is wild. Even if the entire world's scientific community was somehow wrong about global warming, shit like this and "rolling coal" would still be terrible for air quality, but these fucknuts apparently don't care as long as they get to "own the libs". This is peak "eating a shit sandwich to force other people to smell your breath" energy.

[-] GBU_28@lemm.ee 3 points 1 week ago

People are dumb. I once saw a kid on a field trip shit his pants out of spite because we had to leave a petting zoo. It wasn't an accident. He looked the teacher in the eye and letterrip

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[-] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 26 points 1 week ago

The antipollution on a diesel engine (at least a big one) essentially reroutes the exhaust back through the engine and reburns it again. Before the antipollution devices were in place it wasn't uncommon for big diesels to get 500,000 miles before they needed to be replaced. Now with the antipollution devices they're getting somewhere in the neighborhood of 100k before they start having problems of significance.

Those engines and their maintenance are expensive as hell. It saves a whole lot more than the $4,500 having that done. It saves them hundreds of thousands of dollars over the long haul.

[-] NewNewAccount@lemmy.world -5 points 6 days ago
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[-] skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 1 week ago

or they could run on propane, which doesn't make a whole lot of particulates in the first place and is cheaper anyway

[-] Melatonin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 week ago

I'm talking big trucks not forklifts.

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[-] solrize@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

Remotely? Sounds like the manufacturers are up to no good as well.

[-] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago

The summary says he was having accomplices connect a laptop to the vehicle and then remotely accessing that laptop. Sounds like regular old ssh or rdp.

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[-] Arbiter@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

If you read the article he was remotely connecting to laptops that were plugged into the vehicles.

[-] BlueLineBae@midwest.social 2 points 1 week ago

Most cars come equipped with a sim card these days and there's lots of news about how car companies are sending data about your driving habits to insurance providers. So um.... Yeah.

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this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2024
396 points (99.7% liked)

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