Cars and Trucks

Moms Clean Air Force has been fighting for strong protections from car pollution since 2011. Most recently in 2023–24, we worked to finalize stronger EPA pollution protections for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles by showing up in force at EPA virtual public hearings and delivering written comments in favor of the strongest possible vehicle pollution protections. With Trump in the White House, we are working to protect the historic Cleaner Car and Cleaner Truck Rules finalized in 2024.

Take Action

To actively build support for strengthening pollution protections for cars and trucks across the country, we:

• EDUCATE In May 2023, more than 60 Moms staff and members gave testimony in support of the Cleaner Car and Cleaner Truck Standards at two EPA virtual public hearings. Our fact sheet, Tailpipe Pollution and Our Health, breaks down the issue in a way everyone can understand.
• PETITION We’ve been petitioning for stronger car pollution standards for more than a decade. In 2023 alone, we submitted nearly 10,000 written comments in support of stronger car and truck pollution standards.
• PARTNER Moms partners with the Climate Action Campaign and Clean Vehicles Campaign to strengthen car and truck pollution standards.
• AMPLIFY Moms has been featured in hundreds of articles about clean cars and trucks in regional and national media outlets, including the Washington Post, Reader’s Digest, and Consumer Reports, since our founding.
• SUCCEED Through testimony and written comments, Moms called for strong tailpipe pollution protections, and EPA delivered. The Cleaner Car and Cleaner Truck Rules finalized in 2024 will together significantly cut dangerous pollution from the transportation sector and put us on a critical path to boosting the electric vehicle market share.

The transportation sector is the largest source of climate pollution in the U.S. Cars, trucks, and buses can emit many harmful pollutants, such as soot, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide. Tailpipe emissions can also combine with heat and air to form ground-level ozone, or smog. Strong limits are needed.

Diesel buses also pollute our air and harm our health. Tailpipe pollution inside a diesel bus can be even higher than outside, a big concern for students with long commutes as well as bus drivers. Electric buses run on battery power with no tailpipe emissions—on the bus or into surrounding communities.

Exposure to truck and car pollution can cause a range of health effects, such as asthma, lung infections, heart attacks, stroke, premature death, low birth weight, and cancer.

Diesel exhaust is also a known carcinogen. Children are more vulnerable to diesel pollution than adults. Millions of children still ride diesel-powered school buses, exposing them to harmful air pollution that can trigger asthma attacks, interfere with lung development, and even reduce their ability to learn.

In the U.S., low-income, Black, Asian, Latino, and Tribal communities are more likely to live near truck routes and bear a disproportionately heavy burden from the health harms of truck and car pollution. Some families face cumulative effects of pollution from multiple sources, living near oil refineries as well as trucking routes and major highways.