The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued guidance this week allowing farmers and repair shops to temporarily override emission control systems for repair purposes. The guidance says procedures and tools to temporarily take products "out of certified configuration as necessary to perform maintenance and repair" are not prohibited under the Clean Air Act. While the guidance follows existing language under Clean Air Act regulations, it represents the Trump administration's foray into a debate over "right to repair" concerns of the farm community.
EPA issued a press release that asserts "for years, prominent equipment manufacturers have interpreted the CAA’s emission control anti-tampering provisions as preventing them from making essential repair tools available to all Americans." This, in turn, has "forced farmers to take their equipment exclusively to manufacturer-authorized dealers to be fixed, even though the repair could have been made in the field or at a nearby independent repair shop.”
"Not only has this made repairs more costly, but it has also caused many farmers to opt for older agricultural equipment that lack modern emission controls simply because they can fix that equipment themselves," the release says.
Agripulse reports that the new guidance was issued in response to a letter sent by farm equipment manufacturer John Deere to EPA last June, seeking approval "to allow customers and independent repair technicians access to the previously-restricted capability of inducement override" as the company develops future service solutions. Deere has rolled out for-purchase tools intended to help accommodate some third-party access to equipment.
The new guidance, according to the release, states that "temporary overrides of emission control systems are allowed when it is for the 'purpose of repair' to that equipment to obtain proper functionality." It applies to all nonroad diesel engines equipped with advanced emission control technologies.