Letter to the Editor: Y2K Engines

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hen Mack Trucks sued the Environmental Protection Agency alone in 1998, no one wanted to join in the lawsuit, including the American Trucking Associations. Now four years later, a large group wants to stop the inevitable new generation of diesel engines by refusing to purchase until they’re satisfied with testing results.

We’re all in favor of clean air and we’d like the old engines to stay around a little longer. We can’t have both. This is certainly our industry’s Y2K event.

Some of us will accept and embrace the challenge of new engine technology and some of us will put our heads in the sand by refusing to participate. One truck manufacturer even circumvented the compliance by reintroducing an old engine with a new brand, hoping to have an advantage over competitors that have spent hundreds of millions to meet the Oct. 1 deadline. That seems unfair, but that’s how our system works.

Hopefully, we can get enough of these new-generation engines in service to gain customer confidence and acceptance of the technology as soon as possible.

Bob Nuss

I>President

ack Trucks of Rochester

ochester, Minn.

This letter appeared in the Aug. 19 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.