California Air Resources Board

SACRAMENTO -- The California Air Resources Board (ARB) announced today that it has received a settlement of $1.14 Million from Ford Motor Company for its delivery of 374 non-compliant motor vehicles to the California market.

"Auto manufacturers must be certain they ship to California only vehicles that meet our stringent emission standards," said Tom Cackette, ARB's Acting Executive Officer.

Ford delivered to distributors known as "conversion" companies, 374 E-450 truck chassis with 7.3-liter diesel engines, model years 1998 and 1999, that were not certified for sale in California. These vehicles were sold to Californians due to an error in Ford's vehicle order guide and electronic vehicle order system. Ford alleges that these sales were a result of inadvertent errors and were self-reported to ARB.

As part of the settlement, Ford has paid $1.14 million to the California Air Pollution Control Fund (APCF). California's APCF is used to educate the public and provide programs to minimize the output of smog forming emissions from various sources. Ford corrected many of the vehicles and has made substantial corrections to their ordering process. In addition, Ford will pay an additional $365,000 to the APCF for this case if any other emission violations are uncovered in the future. Ford will as well be responsible for all appropriate penalties associated with the new violations.