You Cummins owners who have been deleting your trucks might have been overthinking it. Okay, not really, but in a strange twist of irony, I just learned Cummins has stipulated to pay a fine of 1.67 billion dollars. The fine comes about because the company was accused of installing defeat devices and other undisclosed emissions equipment on nearly one million engines used in Ram 2500 and 3500 trucks.

On Friday the U.S. Department of Justice announced its concerns about the emissions equipment used on 960,000 diesel engines used between model years 2013 and 2023. The engine in question is the 6.7-liter Cummins ISB turbo inline-six. A whopping  630,000 were fitted with what the EPA calls defeat devices on engines through 2019. Another 330,000 that were built from 2019 through 2023 were also fitted with “undisclosed auxiliary emission control devices” that are also part of the settlement.

2021 Ram Heavy Duty – 6.7-liter Cummins with 400 horsepower and 1,000 lb-ft of torque

Apparently, these setups allowed nitric oxides (NOX) to be expelled through the exhaust rather than being burned. Nitric oxide is reported to play a role in forming acid rain and smog, and can exacerbate symptoms of asthma, and cause other potentially fatal problems.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland,  The attorney for the Justice Department issued the following statement,

“Today, the Justice Department reached an initial agreement with Cummins Inc. to settle claims that, over the past decade, the company unlawfully altered hundreds of thousands of engines to bypass emissions tests in violation of the Clean Air Act. As part of the agreement, the Justice Department will require Cummins to pay $1.675 billion, the largest civil penalty we have ever secured under the Clean Air Act, and the second-largest environmental penalty ever secured.”

Is your Ram on the list? You’ll soon find out as recalls are being issued to update the emissions software.

Since Cummins was fined, they reported that it has been conducting an internal review of the situation since 2019. The company also states it has cost 58 million dollars to recall affected trucks. Cummins also expects the settlement to cost an actual total of 2.04 billion dollars. Cummins issued a statement saying it “…has seen no evidence that anyone acted in bad faith and does not admit wrongdoing.”

Cummins’ statement goes on to express that the company “is in a strong financial position with existing liquidity and access to capital to satisfy obligations associated with the settlements, support ongoing operations, and execute its growth strategy.”

NBC News reported that from fiscal years 2020 to 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency finalized 172 civil enforcement cases related to the devices, resulting in civil penalties totaling $55.5 million; and 17 criminal cases resulting in another 7.2 million dollars in penalties and a total of 54 months of incarceration.

The formal settlement still needs court approval (like that’s not going to happen) and will be made public as early as next month.