A California group is suing the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for refusing to investigate a deficient diesel particulate filter (DPF) that they say caused 31 truck fires.
The Alliance for California Businesses is a group of business owners, farmers, and truckers that formed in 2013 to fight California’s mandatory DPF laws. They say that CARB has refused to investigate the fires and that tried “to block others from doing so.”
The Alliance President Bud Caldwell says that at least 31 truck fires have been caused by DPFs in the past 18 months. The group says that four different truck fires along Highway 156 were all attributed to a faulty DPF on the same day this past month.
Caldwell blasted CARB for blaming the fires on truckers who fail to properly maintain the DPF. Says Caldwell, ““I’m getting calls on a daily basis from truckers having trouble with these things. I don’t have the staff to handle it.” Caldwell says that even when the filters don’t cause trucks to catch fire, he has testimony from truckers who have had to pay costly tow bills when their trucks malfunction because of the DPF.
While no lives have been lost due to the DPFs, Caldwell says it is only a matter of time. Even more concerning, he said, is the fact that the allegedly dangerous filters are standard issue on school buses.
Sources:
The Business Journal