CPSC requires ATV companies to check on their dealers to make sure they’re not selling high-speed ATVs to young kids. Young kids are still learners when it comes to riding ATVs, and they get seriously hurt when accidents happen at high speeds. CPSC also incorporates a few minimal safety requirements for ATVs, drawn from the voluntary standard that industry wrote for itself. By law, to import, distribute, or sell ATVs in America, companies need to file and follow an “ATV Action Plan” that binds them to abide by those simple rules. But EGL repeatedly broke the rules, including allowing its dealers to sell high-speed ATVs to young kids and violating the general safety rules for ATVs. Many warnings later, and with ample time to course correct, EGL kept doing the same things. The Commission determined that more warning and waiting would not be effective at bringing EGL into compliance and protecting consumers. We terminated EGL’s Action Plan, preventing them from importing or selling ATVs.
I see reports of fatal ATV incidents almost every day. The Commission can and must do more to protect riders, especially young kids, from death-by-ATV. I am encouraged by today’s action—the Commissioners who voted to terminate EGL’s Action Plan have shown true commitment to protecting consumers.