International Sues Caterpillar Over '02 Engine Prices
DEBORAH LOCKRIDGE
SENIOR EDITOR
International Truck and Engine Corp. has filed a lawsuit against Caterpillar Inc., accusing the engine maker of breaking a contract limiting the price increase of new engines that will meet October 2002 emissions standards.
Neither Caterpillar nor International would comment on the litigation. However, the publication of the American Trucking Associations reported that International claims Caterpillar reneged on an agreement to supply engines for the model 8600 truck International plans to roll out in August. Caterpillar also allegedly refused to honor a pricing schedule that would have provided other truck engines to International through 2006 costing no more than 9 percent above January 2000 prices.
The lawsuit was filed in May in Illinois, where both companies have headquarters. No hearing date has been set.
The cost increase of the new October 2002 engines has turned out to be much higher than the EPA originally estimated when it developed the emissions standards. As HDT reported in its June cover story, another truck maker's data-book base prices are scheduled to go up by nearly $10,000 in many cases to make up for the higher engine prices.
The American Trucking Associations has filed a petition with the EPA and sent a letter to the Bush administration asking for a delay in the rules. Last week, about 70 members of Congress signed a letter to EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, seeking a one-year delay of the regulations. Such a delay would mean good news for Caterpillar, which is not expected to have its October 2002 compliant ACERT engines ready until sometime next year.
Among the host of legal challenges related to the October 2002 emissions standards, Caterpillar has filed a petition to overturn the EPA's certification of Cummins' ISX engine.
According to published reports, Caterpillar has filed a petition in a federal appeals court, claiming that Cummins' engines rely on devices that bypass emissions-reduction technology.
Cummins is currently the only company with an EPA-certified engine that meets the new standard. Caterpillar has submitted an engine for certification, although it will not meet the new standard despite lower emissions levels.
Caterpillar claims the auxiliary emission control device technology, or AECD, that Cummins uses to protect its engines under certain extreme operating conditions is a "defeat device" like those that prompted the EPA to sue engine makers several years ago.
In the previous case, which led to the consent decree pushing up the emissions deadline from 2004 to this October, engine makers were accused of using this technology to enhance engine performance while trucks were on the open highway.
Cummins says the EPA has specifically approved the use of AECDs to prevent engine damage under extreme conditions such as at high temperatures or pulling a heavy load in hilly terrain.
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