SEMA Gives Motor Trend Titty Twister, Evans Cries Uncle

Mark Stevenson
by Mark Stevenson

It seems Jalopnik got to this before us.

It appears Motor Trend‘s Scott Evans had a long, awkward meeting with his editors and those who control Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association (SEMA) member pursestrings about what constitutes fair coverage regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s rule clarifications.

From Motor Trend:

The EPA is not coming for your racecar. The EPA is coming for the aftermarket companies that make parts to turn your street car into a racecar.

Which is, you know, kind of the same thing, at least in the eyes of SEMA.

According to Evans, the EPA wants to clarify Clean Air Act rules on selling aftermarket emissions-beating equipment because sometimes those solutions make it to cars driven on public roads. In effect, the EPA wants to kill that industry so you don’t drive your COBB-tuned Fiesta to Kroger, says Evans. The equivalent of that would be the United States cracking down on Clorox bleach products for those few times when people spray it in the eyes of others.

However, I will give credit where credit is due. Evans does take a more sober approach in this piece than the last one, where he basically goes off the rails and does a hot take editorial with SEMA as its target.

And SEMA probably had every right to squeeze Motor Trend a little if interpretations from other outlets are correct. (We’ll have more on that later.) After all, SEMA is looking out for the health and survival of its members, some of whom may feel the sting from these EPA clarifications more than others.

Yet, it’s still on Motor Trend to offer an official retraction of the original piece, and a corresponding explanation of that retraction, for its readers and SEMA members.

After all, in the digital age, nothing goes away.

Mark Stevenson
Mark Stevenson

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24 of 113 comments
  • JD321 JD321 on Feb 13, 2016

    Most "journalists" are lefty parasite monkey-children that "think" they are entitled to other people's lives and incomes...What do you expect from Government schools and TV programming? Most people in the USA under 35 are now too stupid to be free...They are literally mentally retarded monkey-children. The USA will be as pathetic as Venezuela/Greece in 15 years. PCH101 would probably agree.

    • See 11 previous
    • JD321 JD321 on Feb 15, 2016

      @Xeranar Aww...I'm 34 years old and born in the Soviet Union.... Who do you think yer gonna steal from?

  • Shaker Shaker on Feb 14, 2016

    Since we have little "domestic manufacturing" in this country to speak of, SEMA members probably represent a fair chunk of "manufacturing" these days. So, their lobbyists are (metaphor) sticking their heads above the wall by trying to expand their business to more and more vehicles that will see more street miles than track miles - that's the EPA's "enforcement zone". If SEMA wants to, they could (as they have in the past) emphasize that aftermarket equipment that alters emissions should be restricted to vehicles licensed/plated for a limited yearly mileage ("Classic" or "Antique" registration). But that would limit the expansion of their business members. Or, I'm (one agin) FOS :-)

    • See 7 previous
    • RideHeight RideHeight on Feb 16, 2016

      @bikegoesbaa Pizza, you'd have been a cool guy to work and Heathkit with.

  • John Horner John Horner on Feb 14, 2016

    Modifying the emissions systems of road going cars has been illegal for many years. SEMA members have been actively growing their business with a wink wink off-road use only disclaimer. The EPA has noticed this plain truth and is talking about what to do about it. SEMA is waging a PR battle to try and protect a loophole for its members. In the early days aftermarket companies did a big business in "off road only" catalytic converter bypass pipes. Today they are typically more sophisticated. How many aftermarket ECU modifications have passed a full battery of vehicle emissions certification tests. The car mags are in a tough spot because tuner parts and services are part of their advertising base.

  • Redav Redav on Feb 15, 2016

    From the quotes I saw, I didn't see enough info to really make a decision about what would be made illegal. Rather, what I saw was the EPA laying groundwork to increase/strengthen their ability to regulate offroad and/or competition parts.

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