Pep Boys to pay $5 million for Clean Air Act violations

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The Pep Boys -- Manny, Moe & Jack -- aren’t smiling. Last week, the Philadelphia-based national automotive aftermarket and service chain agreed to pay $5 million in civil penalties for importing and selling Chinese motorcycles, recreational vehicles and engines that did not comply with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requirements.

Baja Inc., the Phoenix-based supplier of the ATVs and other vehicles, is also settling with the federal government. It has agreed to pay $25,000.

‘Equipment imported into the United States that does not meet our pollution control rules is bad for human health and the environment, and unfair to those companies that play by the rules,’ the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance said in a statement released May 10.

The vehicle- and engine-importation case is the largest ever brought by the government under the Clean Air Act. The complaint alleged that Pep Boys and Baja imported and sold at least 241,000 illegal vehicles and engines between 2004 and 2009 -- sales that resulted in 620 tons of excess hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions and more than 6,520 tons of carbon monoxide emissions, the EPA said.

Under the settlement the EPA reached with Pep Boys and Baja, the two firms are required to offset the excess emissions from the vehicles and engines sold, and Pep Boys will need to export or destroy more than 1,300 noncompliant vehicles and engines. The firms will also need to reimburse consumers for emissions-related repair expenses and offer free extended emissions warranties on certain vehicles and engines.

At least 45 models imported and sold by Pep Boys and Baja failed to meet federal emission standards; the vehicles and engines were built by more than 35 manufacturers in China.

-- Susan Carpenter