Motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson will make a payment of $12m to US authorities to end a dispute relating to the emission levels of its bikes. In spite of the payment, Harley-Davidson insists it has done nothing wrong.
The allegation relates to the sale of the Screamin’ Eagle Pro super tuner. This after-market part allows a motorcycle to generate more power, but in the process causes it to produce more emissions. US authorities claim Harley-Davidson has sold 340,000 of the devices since 2008.
Harley-Davidson maintains it has done nothing wrong, insisting the devices were sold only for use in off-road or closed course racing competitions and not public roads. According to the BBC, Harley-Davidson described the settlement as “a good faith compromise”.
Ed Moreland, Harley-Davidson’s Government Affairs Director, said: “For more than two decades, we have sold this product under an accepted regulatory approach that permitted the sale of competition-only parts. In our view, it is and was legal to use in race conditions in the US.”
Harley-Davidson will also destroy its remaining stock of super tuners, and plans to sell a version of the product that complies with clean air regulations.
The US Justice Department also ordered Harley-Davidson to pay an additional $3m to local environmental projects, with the Justice Department’s Assistant Attorney General John Cruden describing the settlement as a significant step towards the goal of stopping the sale of illegal parts.
The settlement comes a little under a year after vehicle emissions were thrown into the spotlight by the revelation Volkswagen (VW) had been cheating on its emission tests. Over 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide were affected by the revelation, and the German carmaker has so far struggled to recover from the revelation, with legal proceedings continuing to drag on. To date, it has set aside over €16bn to cover the cost of the scandal.
VW’s supplier Bosch has also been accused of being a “knowing and active participant” in the fraud, according to lawyers representing US VW owners, Fortune reported. VW is yet to comment on the filing.
