This case involves allegations that Punch It Performance and Tuning, Michael Paul Schimmack, and other companies and individuals close to Schimmack (collectively, ?PIP?) violated the Clean Air Act and fraudulently transferred assets under the Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act.
This case resolution comes at the outset of a new National Compliance Initiative for the EPA, entitled Stopping Aftermarket Defeat Devices for Vehicles and Engines. To report a violation, send an email to tampering@epa.gov or submit the information through the EPA?s website.
After the EPA inspected one of these companies, Schimmack led the EPA to believe that he was no longer manufacturing and selling defeat devices. Yet Schimmack continued to manufacture and sell the same or similar products under the name of REI Research
PIP manufactured and sold more than 20,000 aftermarket defeat devices. These products were designed to bypass, defeat, or render inoperative emission controls. The aftermarket products at issue include hardware components, such as straight pipes, and electronic tuning software (i.e., ?tunes?) that enables the removal of filters, catalysts and other critical emissions controls. These tuning products also reprogrammed the engine?s fueling strategy to increase power, fuel economy, or both, but at the expense of higher emissions of regulated air pollutants. PIP?s products were designed for use with numerous models of vehicles, primarily diesel trucks manufactured by Ford, Gener