CARB has adopted new rules over the Sand Car Industry and it will prove to have a major impact on our sport.

The questions are, what are these rules and how will they apply to mini buggies, go karts, full sized buggies and ATVs in general?


Here is the 7/30/06 news the release from ORBA (Off Road Bussiness Association)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopts new standards
for dune buggy emissions. This move has averted possible disaster
for an ever-changing and growing dune buggy and engine manufacturing industry.

BAKERSFIELD , CA ( July 31, 2006 .) The California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted on July 20 to create a special category to regulate the emissions of dune buggies. Previously dune buggies were regulated under the “Off-Road Large Spark Ignition” standard, a standard focused on things like forklifts and industrial engines. This standard was problematic for engine and dune buggy manufacturers because of the expensive testing equipment and an overly aggressive durability requirement.

Had the CARB Board of Directors not adopted this new standard the dune buggy and engine manufacturers faced the possibility of severe fines and even the closing of their businesses as a result of being out of compliance. This situation was averted by the hard work of a few key individuals in the dune buggy industry, including John Begin of Suspensions Unlimited and Grant George of Funco Motorsports, and by Bill Dart, Land Use Director for the Off-Road Business Association (ORBA). These individuals worked with the board and their staff members to ensure that the sand car and engine manufacturers have a separate emission standard and test procedure appropriate for the industry.

The existing procedures are prohibitively expensive for an industry of this scale. Grant George stated “I am pleased with the willingness of the CARB Board to work with the dune buggy industry to ensure the environment is protected and the manufacturers have a reasonable time to come into compliance with any new standards”.

The new sand car category requires manufacturers to comply only with current Federal EPA standards. For a buggy to fit into the CARB “Sand car” category it must have an engine greater than one liter. If a buggy has an engine equal to or less than one liter it will be considered an “Off-Road Sport Vehicle” by CARB. In the future CARB would like to look at enacting regulations for “Sand cars” that are more stringent than the current Federal EPA requirements.

The CARB Board stated that they would continue to meet with people in the industry to discuss any possible changes. “Bob Cross, Michael Carter, and Scott Rowland of CARB were very understanding and pleasant to work with. It is important that the industry not see them as the enemy, they are doing their jobs and what they feel is right.

I look forward to working with the CARB staff on future emission requirements” stated John Begin of Suspensions Unlimited. ORBA’s Director of Land Use, Bill Dart, has extensive experience working with CARB in the past and will be working closely with the industry and CARB to develop an effective yet affordable solution. “CARB normally regulates huge multi-billion dollar industries so it was essential that they understand the sand car industry has extremely limited resources” Dart stated. “With our input we are optimistic that CARB will develop a reasonable program” Dart concluded.



###


ORBA is a national trade association composed of off-road related businesses united to promote common goals that support the prosperity and growth of the off-road industry.

Meg Grossglass, Membership Representative & Media Relations

ORBA Off-Road Business Association
1701 Westwind Drive #216
Bakersfield , CA 93301
direct to Meg 951-926-1953
951-415-1869 cell
Corporate Office 661-323-1464
Corporate Fax 661-323-1487

Thanks to all who called me today and all my staff over two hundred phone calls, from buggy owners to competitiors. I wish some times CEO could be more out pooring of information, but that is not realality. When we are trying to make changes that effect our companies we can become very secreative, it is not to get a competitive edge it is good bessiness sence. You do not publisize your personal family doing and take out an add on personal news .com. It is clear to me after today that most importers do not understand the CARB rules and how it works on using engines from another aplication. Today with Andrew to clear up all the speculation I ask him to become a member of buggy news to reach out to all and educate them so that this would stop. I am afraid one day that the inforcement of the uses of the government lands that we all ride on will have inforcement to the consumers when they modify their machines. As a group we must work together to keep our freedom of choice. and to show the government that we are not poluting to the levels that they have reported.

shortly there will be a work shop in CA to discuss uses and testing procedures. I will be atending. Presently I have over sixty companies that have asked me to work on their behalf. Along with Bill we will continue to work to be reconized. The current regulation is a very demanding one and do not wait until the last moment. Again thanks for all the phone calls but if you can I really need to get some work completed on our new releases for the fall. If anyone does fell it is real important to talk with me then by all means call or you can ask for my assitant who also works with carb and epa.

Dear Dealer & Customers,

We entered the sandrail market more tha two years ago after being disappointed with the quality of sandrails that were being manufactured in China. We made hundreds of changes to the sandrails that we had manufactured over the last two years. We made the first CARB-EPA approved sandrail using Robin Subaru and Briggs & Stratton engines
more than two years ago in China. These engines were approved under the LSI category. We made a choice to use these engines because of their durability and they were already EPA-CARB compliant for our application.
These engines come with two years parts and labor and are built to American standards. There are also over 4,000 service location throughout the USA and Canada. The parts are available down to the last screw.

We are proud to say we have never sold a sandrail that did not have a EPA-CARB compliant engine. We were one of the first companies who had EPA-CARB approved engines in our vehicles. We have been working with EPA-CARB for more than two years to ensure our engines could be used for the application we were using them for. The fact is that we did not need a new law to make the engines in our sandrails compliant because they already were compliant from day one.

We did not think it was prudent to sell thousands of uncertified vehicles in California in the hope that CARB would pass a new law that would make our vehicles legal. We were not willing to pay thousands of dollars in fines.
We also assumed our dealers could not afford this either. We have always been on the right side of the law and the laws that pertained to the products that we manufactured. We have improved the quality of the sandrails that we have manufactured in China by making some structural components out of DOM 1020. We also developed a new CVT transmission that is the strongest CVT transmission on the market today. We were the first to introduce Five Point harnesses for sandrails made in China. We will continue to introduce innovative sandrails in the future.

It has been a debate worth having despite the sometimes negative things that have been said by some individuals and companies. I am glad we enjoy freedom to express our views. We will continue to work with CARB and EPA to make sure all of our vehicles are CARB-EPA compliant.
I welcome Andrew Spencer to this forum and look forward to working with him and all the other people we have come to know over the last two years at CARB and EPA. Thank you.

Sean McDonald
CEO

www.super-kart.com





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I hope this one does not end up in the boxing ring. Sean, lighten up. Why do you still feel the need to whine about the fact that you have been doing it by the books the whole time??? You sound like a cry-baby!

Sorry if I offend anyone on this, BUT darn!!!!!

Seriously....Do you really think CARB "adjusted" their regulations for one individual or company? No ONE person has that much pull with any government entitiy.
They had a whole industry that was not in compliance with the regulations. Major sand car manufacturers down to the little guy needed a change so they could continue to have a job.


Glade

Dear Glade,

After the dust settled, your boy did not have EPA-CARB on the 800cc or 1600cc engines! Look at his posting, no CARB certificate in site! Having EPA certification does not allow you sell your vehicles in California. We started this thread after we discovered two factories in China that were manufacturing sandrails with fake EPA stickers on them. EPA has since verified this. We were the first company to manufacture and sell CARB-EPA certified sandrails in California. We started this process more that two years ago. Go look at the original text of that meeting from July on the CARB website and you will see it had nothing to do with sandrails. It was about Rhino type vehicles and not sandrails. I have yet to see anything official from CARB as to the outcome of that meeting. We will wait and see what Andrew has to say. I would love to know how you can put EPA-CARB stickers on engines that do not show up ON CARB'S DATABASE. I want to see an explanation to that magic trick. I want to know how you can sell thousands of vehicles prior to this proposed ruling in California that were not CARB compliant. How can this be done without breaking the previous laws on the books? I want answers from CARB on these issues. Why would anyone care about the new ruling if CARB did not enforce the old rules? What would be different? Under the old rules it was rather simple if the engine was under 25hp then it fell under Small Spark Ignition and if it was over 25hp power then it fell under Large Spark Ignition. That law was fine. This law was ideal, you got your engine tested for being compliant and then installed it in the same configuration in any off-road vehicles you want to. Simple, we did not need any new rules. Why would you want to make it any more complicated than that? Did you hear anyone complaining about the old EPA-CARB rules from companies that were selling EPA-CARB certified vehicles? No, why would they? I am for testing engines and not vehicles. I still need Andrew to verify everything that was posted on the outcome of that meeting. I rest my case, we were right on the money and they were dead wrong! I will not allow anyone to threaten me so they can stop me from exposing the truth.

Sean

www.super-kart.com

Here we go again!!!!!

Being a newbie to this arena, I have found this site most informative.
The following have been observed:
(I erased my obsevations in an effort to keep this in good order)

You know what ? Just forget it and let the EPA & CARB speak for themselves.

Kurt

Sean,

The complaints were that testing was way too expensive for the small cottage industries.

CARB/EPA was used to dealing with billion dollar industries, which the sand rail and buggy industry is not.

With the new rulings CARB now allows on chasis testing at a substantially reduced cost. Yes, each and every chasis that an engine is placed on with this testing format must be tested individually.

In the end, with this new ruling, there are more options for the producers of off road equipment, not less.

It has been made clear that there will be no inforcement or CARB requirements until 1/1/07 in this industry at this time after negotiations.


It has also been shown, through links that we have found, including the ORBA website, that nearly the entire industry was running illegal up until this point. This is why ORBA and the industry went into negotiations with CARB to help get everyone into compliance.

The industry has been given a time extension to get all their ducks in order now, and the rules have been broadcast far and wide.

If there were stickers on vehicles that mentioned CARB and they were not CARB compliant I would say that's an issue, but that it's up to the authorities to straighten out.

On the whole, CARB appears more interested in bringing a entire industry into compliance rather that putting it out of business.


-Steve

Sean,
You PM'd me wanting to know why me and my buddies (lol, not sure who they are exactly) keep bashing your company. It's not your company. It is your bragging and arogance. This is a perfect example. Do you let your wife read what you post? Maybe you should so she can kick your butt.


Your bashing another company here





Another sales pitch here. No other companies do this on BN




Why don't you give them some reasonable time.



Yes, why don't we wait and quit bitching





Steve already adressed this




Well maybe they didn't have your number. They all called me. That is why there are so many non compliant products out there. Hence the proposed change




Why don't we give him more than two days. I doubt his most important job is to quiet some sniffling babies on the internet.