1y ago

DOJ sues eBay for selling ‘rolling coal’ devices; fines could hit $2 billion

www.cnbc.com DOJ sues eBay for selling ‘rolling coal’ devices; fines could hit $2 billion

Rolling coal is the practice of tampering with a vehicle's emissions control system, causing it to spew black clouds of sooty exhaust.

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1y ago

article

DOJ sues eBay for selling ‘rolling coal’ devices; fines could hit $2 billion

www.cnbc.com /2023/10/11/doj-sues-ebay-for-rolling-coal-devices-fines-could-hit-2-billion.html

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1y ago

article

DOJ sues eBay for selling ‘rolling coal’ devices; fines could hit $2 billion

www.cnbc.com /2023/10/11/doj-sues-ebay-for-rolling-coal-devices-fines-could-hit-2-billion.html

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1y ago

DOJ sues eBay for selling ‘rolling coal’ devices; fines could hit $2 billion

www.cnbc.com /2023/10/11/doj-sues-ebay-for-rolling-coal-devices-fines-could-hit-2-billion.html

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177 comments

Rolling coal is an extremely inefficient method of converting little dick energy into kinetic energy.
- It's a great way to convert money into carbon soot though.

I hope this enforce to the point that all the assholes in my state that have rig thier trucks to do this can go to fucking jail or have their trucks and licenses revoked.
- It's only illegal if it's enforced, and the people who roll coal are the same types of people that would enforce the rules.
  
  Some of those that work forces are the same that spew carbon.
- Also reduce their lung capacity by 75%

Can we please actually enforce the rules on drivers though? These are so obviously illegal yet nothing is done.
- Not many federal emission police out there to enforce it.
  
  Cops pull people over for having something hanging from their rearview mirror. I would think they'd love to be ticketing people for having these things.
  
  Cities have emission standards. Police could try harder if they wanted to.
  
  I'm from Europe, but can't local police enforce federal laws?
- Those vehicles should be impounded and converted into cubes on the spot by roaming hydraulic presses.
  
  Ideally with the drivers inside

Fuck it, hit 'em hard. Been buying off eBay for 20-years, I like 'em. But this seems like a fine place to put our collective foot down and say, "No. You can't do that."
- I was shafted by an Ebay seller who was nasty and awful. He acted like he was too stupid to understand why his item was not at all what I ordered. He had a 99.4% approval rating. I thought how the hell was that possible? I found out when I went to leave my negative rating and Ebay would not allow me to post the negative rating.
  
  A seller shipped me a phone that was much worse than what I bought, and it wasn't even the same brand. I returned it. However, the seller wouldn't ship the right phone but still had the listing saying several were available. I couldn't leave a negative review, which makes no sense, and I reported it to ebay, but as of yet nothing has happened to the seller that I can tell.
  It's really disappointing. I want an Amazon alternative, but it's tough if I'm going to have to go through this crap.
  
  I'd think that would make eBay complicit in any scams they block negative reviews for.
- They should probably go after Amazon as well.

Good. Why not ban those oversized SUVs while you're at it? They're a serious danger to children and they're not even good at hauling stuff!
- Because the government is bought and owned by the car industry (as well as 20 other industries) yaaay!
  
  The US is just three corporations in a trenchcoat pretending to be a country

I drive a Prius. Assholes "roll coal" when they drive next to me all the time. I don't even get it. They're not even giving me shit for having an electric car, they're giving me shit because I pay less for gas than they do.
- No, it's because of their fragile ego.
  
  Sure, but they do it specifically to Priuses. Electric cars too, but also Priuses and other hybrids. I've heard so from other hybrid owners and seen them do it too. It is definitely about their fragile ego, but I think it's also just because they're idiots.
  
  I think it's more that they are fucking dumbass pieces of shit.
- I'm fortunate enough to be able to walk to and from work every day. These "roll coal" bastards just hate me for it. I think it must really chap their assess to see little ol' me bopping down the street listening to my tunes and not needing an emotional support truck the way they do.
- Time for the ol' "Roll coal if your dick is tiny" sticker
- If it's any consolation, the fact that they are modifying their trucks which are already enormously over priced and gas suckers to suck even MORE gas when they do this to you should hopefully provide some sort of satisfaction to you. I typically point and laugh at them.
  
  Oh I'm aware and I do laugh at them. They just also baffle me.

Wait I thought people were just tampering to get higher performance or something, idk. But they're literally doing it to make the vehicle spew worse than it already does? Wtf and why? What is wrong with people?
- Running the diesel engine extra rich so it vomits extra sooty exhaust instead of properly burned, cleaner exhaust, because they feel the need to compensate for their small member by annoying everyone else.
  
  Since getting an electric car they've started cutting me off, brake checking me and then doing the soot farting thing. It's like they need to make up for my car's lack of tailpipe emissions in a way that really lets me know they're doing it.
- why?
  They see it as a "fuck you" to liberals/environmentalists.
  
  Honestly, that's how I read it, so message received. It's not the sort of thing you say or do if you're trying to win friends and influence people, though.
- Wait I thought people were just tampering to get higher performance or something, idk
  Some folks are, but their goal is to not spew a bunch of black smoke because black smoke means incomplete combustion, which in turn means less power than they could've had if they'd managed to shove more air in.
  "Rolling coal" is an entirely different thing based purely on idiocy and spite.
- It looks tuff, bro!
  The worst thing is the people who intentionally spew Priuses (back when they were the only semi-electric cars around) and bicycles with soot, as some sort of "fuck you for trying to not pollute, hur hur" thing.
- Because it lets the world know how MAGA you are.
- Those types of tuners also exist, and depending on the tune they can actually in some cases slightly improve fuel economy (depending on driving style). I tuned my Audi A3 to "Stage 1+" and actually have seen slightly better fuel economy doing highway driving to which I attribute the new ECU/TCU tunes allowing me to stay in gear longer during acceleration I guess?
- A lot of germans disable their EGR-system to increase reliability.
- The smoke is a symptom of over-fueling a diesel which does actually make more power, all else being equal.
  
  A little smoke is a symptom of making more power. A lot of smoke just means you failed to add enough air to go with it and are pointlessly polluting and wasting fuel.
  (Side note: my diesel VW, which is modified for more power but also is typically fueled with 100% biodiesel, produces less smoke than it did stock.)
  
  To a point. After that you're just making more smoke, and washing out the cylinders, drastically reducing the engine's life. I take some consolation in the fact that most of the bros rolling coal will absolutely not be able to afford a replacement engine once they trash theirs.
- 1 in 100 are children who do it to "own the libs" the rest do it because it increases fuel efficiency and power.
  
  Power maybe. Fuel efficiency, no.

Not sure it's specifically eBay that should get the fine here, it should be the sellers ON eBay.
- Agreed. Nobody wants the eBay police, but sellers and buyers should be the ones held accountable.
  
  Yes exactly. No online platform can catch 100% of prohibited activity. They are punishing the wrong people. What they should do is get a list of all the ones eBay missed, file charges against the seller and start knocking on buyer's doors. Or maybe send some agents in an undercover Prius to pull them over and issue a fine when they get coal rolled. That would send a pretty clear message that eBay is not a safe place to purchase these items.
- You're responsible for what people on your platform do.
  
  Here I thought the modern internet is able to exist because platforms specifically are not responsible for what its users do.
- If someone sells cocaine on eBay does ebay get fined? How about illegal porn?

Please crack down on rolling coal in general. If you were to put it in the context of the shopping cart theory, it would be shoving your cart directly into someone else's car.
- It's the sheer waste that gets me - not just the fuck you tiny dick bullshit of spewing your effluence onto people intentionally, no, they need to waste fucking shittons of petrol or diesel to do it MEANWHILE THE WORLD IS FUCKING BURNING. The fucking amazon dried up, what more evidence do they need?
  Of course, if evidence swayed them, if they had half a fucking brain they'd never try this shit in the first place. But you know what's worse than the stupids running the planet into meltdown?
  The rest of us let them. Even wildly stupid bullshit like this.

- Check your state but there might be a number you can call to report it. Mine has one and I have done it.
  
  I call 9x19 when some dipshit rolls coal.
- Should be allowed to drag the coal-roller out of their truck and murder them on the spot. It's self defense.
  
  Lmao, don't do this but I find your comment extremely amusing. Fuck coal rollers, they should have their entire vehicle confiscated at the very least
- Know what goes good with a fresh tank of diesel fuel? Water, gas, eggs, anything liquid and not-diesel, really.

This has got to be this most pathetic chapter in the American saga.
- Fun fact. My workplace added recycle bins to the breakroom a few years ago. The day after, HR had to call a facility-wide emergency meeting to explain that their use was voluntary only and that no workers would be required to use them.
  Grown ass adults lost their shit because they saw a recycle bin.
  
  Stop it. Are you serious?

DOJ infringing on my god-given rights to own the libs per usual
- The libs are owned by my blue flag!!

I've been coal rolled and driven off the road as a recreational cyclist on rural, lonely roads. The last time I felt safe cycling on the road was 5 years ago?
- Seems like the entire Western world is dealing with a rise in anti-social behaviour on the roads since the pandemic started.
  
  Honestly things have gotten so much worse IMO, most drivers are not paying attention and I've been almost smooshed a few times. Slowing down and trying to stay out of cars' way can only do so much...
  The ones that force past only to pull over or turn 5 seconds later are the worst examples of impatience I've seen on the road in years ☹️
- Could have been worse. A 16 year old here in Texas ran over 6 cyclists while trying to roll coal on them. 2 had to be airlifted:
  https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/article/waller-bicyclists-hit-truck-teen-driver-ironman-16490862.php
  four of the six cyclists who were hit were hospitalized. Two of those had to be airlifted because of the severity of their injuries.The update:
  https://www.bicycling.com/news/a37808647/texas-driver-assaults-six-cyclists/
  A 16-year-old truck driver ran over six cyclists out on a training ride on September 25, in Waller County, Texas.
  The driver was attempting to “roll coal” on the cyclists when he hit them, according to witnesses.
  The driver was finally arrested on November 8 and indicted with six counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which is a second-degree felony.
  Edit: the last update from the Law Firm representing the cyclists:
  https://www.bikelaw.com/2021/11/felony-charges-for-waller-driver/
  
  Holy shit. This kid will probably not see jail and will be driving again in a year or two because his weapon of choice was a car.
- Yup. Montana drivers will hunt down cyclists and run them over, if not roll coll on them until they choke and fall over. Love this place!
- Shit like this is the reason why I ditched the bike and got a car. The infrastructure is woefully inadequate for biking; more often than not you have to share the road with these idiots instead of having your own dedicated lane. Furthermore, I had way too many near death experiences. I never want to ride a bike in the US ever again.

If they market them as intentionally modified, then probably criminal case can be opened against them.
Intention
Health hazard for others
- 🧎

The practice is sometimes used as a form of anti-environmental protest.
Sometimes? What are the more common reasons?
- It's also used to assault cyclists for the crime of existing
  
  From that perspective, I’d rather get rolled coal than doored.
- To look like you're an impressive person with a big, strong truck that is so powerful it can't help but not spew lung-destroying emissions. They're just cosplaying truckers.
  
  You don't even see that shit out of semis anymore. It's just burning fuel for no reason.
- i’d probably read the sometimes as applying to environmental protest rather than the practice… as in there are other forms of environmental protests, and this is one that is sometimes used
- the emission systems reduce the power and fuel efficiency. removing or bypassing emission systems means they burn less fuel and get more power.
  
  Fud

If you rolled coal expect to be held down and repeatedly kicked in the crotch at the inevitable climate induced apocalypse.
- People who drive those stupid fucking lifted trucks from the thumbnail regardless of whether or not they rolled coal will probably be next in line.
- Can you imagine the CIA hunting down climate terrorists the same way Mossad hunts down Nazis in South America?

The article had a video and I could only stand watching it for a couple of seconds. It started with a Russian sounding guy saying they were going to show why a Prius is dangerous to the environment. Then, they showed people laughing as they rolled coal at electric car drivers.
Is that their argument? "Electric cars are dangerous to the environment because people driving electric cars make me spew tons of smoke into the atmosphere"?
What's next? "You recycled your can. That's bad for the environment because that forced me to spill this toxic waste into a playground. All those kids got sick and it's all your fault for recycling!!!"

But the LIB's got owned, didn't they.... fucking losers

I didn't even know this was a thing - impressively stupid and dangerous on the open road.
- You just described the modern conservative:
  Impressively stupid and dangerous.
- Having lived in a handful of states, I've only seen it in one of them: Virginia. I suspect it's more of an Appalachian or southern thing in general, however.
  
  Nah, they're in Oregon and Washington too
  
  Nope, they're everywhere. Stupidity has few limits...
  
  You see it a lot in Utah, unfortunately.

Fuck yea, take ebay for all their worth and publish the customer logs so we can deal with the customers the old fashioned way.
- SPAM and robocalls?
  
  If by SPAM you mean hurling salty meat chunks, and by robocalls you mean the T-1000 making a house call.
  
  Dial 9x19 for more information.
- Yea totally that.

That is fantastic news seeing as the EPA won't do shit when you send them video.
- Send it to your local PTA. might be more effective.

If anyone is curious some states have a number you can use to report it. I keep it in my phone contacts and when I see it I tell them the license plate number.

I never realized they sold devices to do this. Everyone I know just removes the emission system, AKA "EGR delete".

Even as a car guy and a pro-ICE cars, I agree 100% with this. These rolling coal trucks are just cringe, and literally a waste of fuel. I can't say I care about the climate but I also hate the ones who fuck the climate as much as 50x the amount a normal human does, on purpose just because "fuck the climate".
- You sound like a terrible person.
- Just out of curiosity, what makes you not care about the climate? Is it some sort of fatalistic "we got 20 good years left, so might as well enjoy them" kinda deal?

Isn’t “rolling coal” slang for gay sex?
- as a gay man, not as far as i’m aware
  and if you’re trying to make a joke because the people that do this are likely homophobes and would hate to be associated with gay sex, i’d ask please don’t… that, in itself, is unintentionally homophobic because it implies gay sex is derogatory
  
  Sorry I wasn’t intending on implying that. Meant to make the homophobes the butt of the jokes (and a slight inspiration from Arrested Development’s “shoveling coal” although it doesn’t mention being gay at all, just an implication of a sex act). The people who roll coal don’t care about doing things for the right reasons, so maybe they’ll do the right thing for the wrong reason (don’t roll coal bc they don’t wanna be gay). Worked for roller blading (although ofc there wasn’t anything wrong with that)
  
  Yeah, I suppose you’re right, but it would have been so satisfying to play back their own insecurities.
  As a non-gay man, I got a huge kick out of all the gay guys taking back “proud boys” a few years back
  
  It doesn't, but to them it is.
- That's pushing coal.
  
  Does it mean USSR was gay sex country?
  Context: in USSR coal mining was honorable job

177 comments