[Lateral Line]

I received the letter below from GDE via email and they are asking me to complete an online response form with my name, vin#, purchase date. It seems self-incriminating to complete this form for them to submit my info to CARB (California Air Resources Board). Can CARB legally force GDE to provide customer info? FYI, I already had my AEM update performed by my Jeep dealership.

Please share you thoughts. Much appreciated.

Quote:
Green Diesel Engineering
1032 Rig Street
Commerce Township, MI 48390
Dear Customer,
You are receiving this letter because you purchased a diesel engine tuning product from Green Diesel Engineering (GDE) prior to November 7, 2017 and, at that time, the product was shipped to an address in California.
We are taking this opportunity to inform you, our customer, that GDE received a Notice of Violation from the California Air Resources Board (hereafter called “CARB”) in November 2017 stating that our “for off-road use only” disclaimer was not sufficient for selling our product in California. All products sold up to that date were under the disclaimer that it was to be used on a closed course circuit and for off-road racing use only. In addition, our product was not legal for sale, offer for sale, installation, or use in California, unless its use was exclusively for racing purposes and the vehicle was never driven on a public highway. As part of our continued support of CARB’s review of the matter, we identified our customers. You are receiving this letter, because our records indicate that you purchased one of our products that are not legal in California.
Part of our settlement with CARB requires a compliance campaign. The first part of this campaign consists of a response form, which we will be emailing to you. You must complete the form and return it to GDE. If you are no longer the owner of the affected vehicle(s) please let us know, and where possible please share the current owner’s information. If your vehicle is no longer registered in the State of California please let us know that as well.
The second part of the compliance campaign requires customers with the GDE flash tool to install the stock tuning in the vehicle as soon as possible. Customers with Ecodiesel GDE tunes must go to the dealer and have them reinstall the stock tune. Please email us a receipt showing it was completed, so that we can reimburse you for your expenses. Vehicles with a GDE tune are legal in California only for racing vehicles which may never be used, or registered or licensed for use, upon a highway. If you do not have the GDE tune removed, CARB may take remedial action, including, but not limited to requesting the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) block your California registration. This may prevent you from selling or re-registering your vehicle in California.
Please direct any questions regarding this correspondence to: [email protected] . Our normal support email address is not able to address specific questions regarding this matter at this time.
Kind regards
Green Diesel Engineering
UNQUOTE:

 

[ferntree]

Land Of The Free......not. This is why I'm happy I kept my stock ECU as well and of course I only use my GDE tune when I'm racing in Mexico.

 

[DieselDrax]

I mean, there's nothing (like HIPPA for health records) that says your information is confidential and can't be provided as part of legal action or settlements, right? I assume you don't have anything in writing that says that, anyway. So there's no reason to think GDE wouldn't be able to provide customer data to a govt entity as part of a settlement with said govt entity. Your information wasn't made public or sold for advertising, etc.

I also don't see how it would be self-incriminating to submit the form. GDE has already identified you to CARB as purchasing an off-road-only tune. You've already been identified and incriminated, it's now up to you to prove that you're back in compliance. As they say, there's no putting the toothpaste back inside the tube. In this case, I would say that NOT following through with their compliance campaign would be more problematic than complying. If you don't comply then it could very well be that CARB will assume that you are still out of compliance with state smog regulations and could suspend your registration or require you to complete a smog test within a certain amount of time otherwise your registration would be suspended.

The cat is out of the bag. You're not providing GDE or CARB with anything more incriminating than what they already have in their possession. If you're back to stock then this should be a simple task for you to complete, if you're not...well, it sounds like GDE will reimburse you for the expense of going back to the stock tune.

 

[JSanders88]

It seems like a response stating the AEM update was written over your GDE tune would put an end to the issue.


If that were the case, of course.

 

[Hoooper]

If you read it carefully its clear they already sold out their customers so you arent really hiding anything.

As part of our continued support of CARB’s review of the matter, we identified our customers.

I already asked them to tell me what extent they disclosed our information to CARB and they told me to ask CARB since CARB may not want to share that information. Pretty ridiculous, theyre obviously happy to sell their customers down the river if it saves them some cost. Hopefully it costs them their business. Just my opinion, I guess living in CA has given me a healthy distaste for people who cooperate with our government.

For some reason the form they sent out is missing the option for "I have only ever used the tune offroad". The closest answer that is offered is that you kept your stock ECU and you recognize that its not legal to use the tuned one on the street.

 

[2012 Summit]

If you read it carefully its clear they already sold out their customers so you arent really hiding anything.



I already asked them to tell me what extent they disclosed our information to CARB and they told me to ask CARB since CARB may not want to share that information. Pretty ridiculous, theyre obviously happy to sell their customers down the river if it saves them some cost. Hopefully it costs them their business. Just my opinion, I guess living in CA has given me a healthy distaste for people who cooperate with our government.

For some reason the form they sent out is missing the option for "I have only ever used the tune offroad". The closest answer that is offered is that you kept your stock ECU and you recognize that its not legal to use the tuned one on the street.

Do you think GDE actually had any other option?

 

[Hoooper]

Do you think GDE actually had any other option?

Being a bigger pain in the butt is always a better option. "our continued support of CARB’s review of the matter " is a long way from "customer data was subpoenaed and we were forced to turn it over" even if the end result is the same.

 

[Lateral Line]

Do you think GDE actually had any other option?

I am not particularly happy that they turned in the customer list to CARB. GDE passed the headaches to their customer that paid them. Argh....

 

[Lateral Line]

If you read it carefully its clear they already sold out their customers so you arent really hiding anything.



I already asked them to tell me what extent they disclosed our information to CARB and they told me to ask CARB since CARB may not want to share that information. Pretty ridiculous, theyre obviously happy to sell their customers down the river if it saves them some cost. Hopefully it costs them their business. Just my opinion, I guess living in CA has given me a healthy distaste for people who cooperate with our government.

For some reason the form they sent out is missing the option for "I have only ever used the tune offroad". The closest answer that is offered is that you kept your stock ECU and you recognize that its not legal to use the tuned one on the street.

Have you submitted the online form back to GDE?

 

[Hoooper]

Have you submitted the online form back to GDE?

Nope. Im still hopeful they will tell me how much of my information they gave away. Im likely not going to help them out and Ill just see what happens. My only real concern is that the DMV is a lawless agency so if they want to suspend your registration they can do it without any proof that you ever drove a tuned vehicle on the street, and at that point you are stuck trying to get the DMV to be helpful which as we all know is essentially impossible. If I do send it back I am just clicking the "I kept my stock ECU" option, since I did, and being a good citizen I never used the tuned computer to drive anywhere but off-highway.

 

[Bounty Hunter]

Being a bigger pain in the butt is always a better option. "our continued support of CARB’s review of the matter " is a long way from "customer data was subpoenaed and we were forced to turn it over" even if the end result is the same.

They're likely regurgitating verbage given to them by CARB. You knew what you were getting into, the risks you were taking, when buying an offroad tune. This is especially true of CA residents because they know all too well the control CARB has over such matters.

I would tell them the tuned ECM was never installed in the vehicle and it's CARB's job to prove otherwise. They had better come with a warrant to check the tune on the truck, and that warrant had better include the probable cause.

 

[Hoooper]

They're likely regurgitating verbage given to them by CARB. You knew what you were getting into, the risks you were taking, when buying an offroad tune. This is especially true of CA residents because they know all too well the control CARB has over such matters.

I would tell them the tuned ECM was never installed in the vehicle and it's CARB's job to prove otherwise. They had better come with a warrant to check the tune on the truck, and that warrant had better include the probable cause.

They could have responded differently when I emailed them if they werent happily cooperating with CARB. But they basically told me to pound sand as ask CARB how much of my data they gave up lol.

The only issue with not cooperating on this is that the DMV doesnt need proof of any wrongdoing to suspend your registration. They do whatever they like. CA DMV even sends extortion letters to people who have moved away, looking to get paid for registration on vehicles that are registered out of state! So they arent going anywhere with a warrant if it came to it, they would just suspend the registration and tell you to fix it or never drive the vehicle again.

 

[Hoooper]

Anyone else who got the letter, is your google doc link the exact same URL as mine? https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdLw4n1jD59gQwBpUWFqtk1VrDBgggVgZMQYYIQ3iYPJ-Ngtw/viewform

 

[Lateral Line]

Anyone else who got the letter, is your google doc link the exact same URL as mine? https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdLw4n1jD59gQwBpUWFqtk1VrDBgggVgZMQYYIQ3iYPJ-Ngtw/viewform

Yes, mine is the same.

 

[Hoooper]

lol. I would love to see them get a whole bunch more responses than the actual # of tunes sold in CA (587, according to the settlement docs)

 

[Hoooper]

Also from the settlement

GDE promptly and fully cooperated with CARB throughout its investigation.

There is nothing in the settlement that prevents Mr. Keith Cavallini from discussing the extent of disclosures of customer data he gave to the state so the fact he would refuse to tell his customers how much was shared seems like pretty bad form unless they bother to point out that theyre prevented in doing so by another agreement.

If you read the full agreement it actually doesnt look like there is any requirement for compliance with the "fix", though given their performance so far I wouldnt be surprised if they gleefully went to CARB to tattle if you dont respond. The relevant portion of the agreement doesnt say anything about reporting noncompliance.

9. GOE has agreed to develop and implement a compliance plan. As part of the compliance plan, GOE has agreed to send a Return to Stock Notice and New Owner Card to all 587 purchasers of the Subject Parts and to work with its distributors, dealers, and customers to remove the Subject Parts. In addition , GOE will provide customers one of two options when flashing back their vehicle to stock: Customers can visit a local auto dealer and flash back their vehicle to stock which will be payable by GOE up to $100; or GOE will ship customers a stock module which will allow customers to flash the tunes back to stock.

 

[chadg2]

Also from the settlement



There is nothing in the settlement that prevents Mr. Keith Cavallini from discussing the extent of disclosures of customer data he gave to the state so the fact he would refuse to tell his customers how much was shared seems like pretty bad form unless they bother to point out that theyre prevented in doing so by another agreement.

If you read the full agreement it actually doesnt look like there is any requirement for compliance with the "fix", though given their performance so far I wouldnt be surprised if they gleefully went to CARB to tattle if you dont respond. The relevant portion of the agreement doesnt say anything about reporting noncompliance.

Who or what the heck is GOE? Did you mean GDE? If you did and this information is correct I want a module with the stock flash shipped to me and I'll pay to keep it.
Should've keep my stock module the very first time instead of letting you forum guys talk me out of it saying "I'll never need my stock tune module again", and you guys were right for a few years until dooms day came in September.

 

[Hoooper]

Yeah for some reason the text copy from PDF to here was making GDE into GOE. You can pay a core deposit to get a stock one shipped to you, and of course then you just have to keep it and eat the deposit cost. If you live in CA and "qualify", that is.

 

[chadg2]

Yeah for some reason the text copy from PDF to here was making GDE into GOE. You can pay a core deposit to get a stock one shipped to you, and of course then you just have to keep it and eat the deposit cost. If you live in CA and "qualify", that is.

That's what I thought you meant. I don't live in California, but still wish I had my oem stock tuned ecm. Bumbing now because of it.

 

[jetskifast]

CARB has your Vin number already, thanks to GDE
You do not respond to GDE form.
You will not be able register vehicle.
Would not surprise me if CARB, Goes after owners using illegal smog defeat tune.
Laws and fines already on the books, for tampering with vehicle smog equipment.