SACRAMENTO - Navistar Inc. paid $250,000 in penalties to the Air Resources Board for failing to follow proper testing procedures for one of its diesel exhaust filters, as required by state law.

“Companies that are in the business of providing pollution control technology for vehicles must make sure that their products actually do what they say they will do,” said ARB’s new Enforcement Chief, Todd Sax. “Navistar sold diesel particulate filters in California without proper testing at specified intervals, in violation of our air quality laws. To their credit, once they were notified of these infractions, they took prompt action and cooperated fully with ARB.”

The state’s Verification Procedure requires compliance testing for each category of diesel particulate filters after a certain number of units are sold or leased in the California market. Results of these tests must be submitted to ARB’s Executive Officer after each phase of testing in the form of a compliance report.

Navistar. failed to follow the in-use compliance requirements of the Verification Procedure for the DPX™ Catalyzed Soot Filter System. The company had sold more than 200 in California, with many installed on school buses in the San Diego County region, which should have triggered the required testing. 

Illinois-based Navistar has agreed to follow all required procedures and paid $187,500 to the Air Pollution Control Fund to support air quality research, and $62,500 to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to clean up school bus fleets throughout the state.

Diesel exhaust contains a variety of harmful gases and more than 40 other known cancer-causing compounds. In 1998, California identified diesel particulate matter as a toxic air contaminant based on its potential to cause cancer, premature death and other health problems.