Let’s preface this entire thing by stating that I am not a lawyer. I like making trucks do cool things and run better, that being said, I did some research and here’s what I found. I’ll do my best to summarize, but if you’re interested, I’d recommend going directly to the source for this information.
After reading a 32 page complaint filed from the United States Attorney’s office issued March 8th 2021, it’s starting to look like things may change a bit for the Diesel Performance industry. From what we can see as outsiders, the United States Government has filed a lawsuit against EZ-Lynk for the production of devices capable of altering emissions control systems and recalibrating vehicles in order to do so. The government is seeking civil penalties and barring the company from producing and selling any more Auto Agents.
What Happened?
Again, not a lawyer, but it’s no secret that the EPA has been going after EZ Lynk for years now. They have been trying to obtain information about how the EZ-Lynk system works at a macro level like how the company is structured, who they work with etc.. In summary, they’re after information about the company, and in this process they have requested the release of all this data showing how many units have been sold, who the wholesalers are, and who the dealers are. Word on the street is they have even requested the data of end users at City & State level.
EZ-Lynk has built their company from the Cayman Islands giving them somewhat of a shelter from the recent regulatory changes. They have made it clear their top priority is ensuring their customers data stays safe and they maintain operations. That being said, this may have hit the newsfeeds recently, but it has been something that has been ongoing for the past few years. The EPA has been in pursuit of these guys for quite awhile, and this is just another chapter in the book.
What is going to happen?
Spoiler Alert - We don’t know. What we do know is that this has come up a few times since early 2019 and it’s likely that this will not be moving at breakneck speeds. In 2019 the EPA had given EZ-Lynk a demand to comply with EPA requests and those demands were ignored. This is simply the next step with the filing of the Civil Lawsuit, the suit threatens fines of up to $4,876USD per unit sold and up to $48,762USD per day from February 2019 onwards. That being said, they have continued business as normal for years now as this case has been building in the background.
What does this mean for consumers?
As an EZ Lynk customer, there’s really no telling what will come down the pipe. EZ Lynk may fight this and win, or they might lose and have to hand over all documentation exposing all of their customers, take down the cloud, and stop selling and supporting these devices. We also need to remember that as close as the USA may seem, it’s not Canada and we have different rules and regulations around this.
Nobody knows. It’s certainly a scary time to be a diesel performance enthusiast, but we will do our best to continue to have fun while playing by the rules. We’ve all been down this road before, it’s not easy but we will continue to closely monitor the situation to the best of our abilities.
