A Dark Vector Cognition product

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

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Item 3. Legal Proceedings

We are subject to numerous lawsuits and claims arising out of the ordinary course of our business, including actions related to product liability; personal injury; the use and performance of our products; warranty matters; product recalls; patent, trademark or other intellectual property infringement; contractual liability; the conduct of our business; tax reporting in foreign jurisdictions; distributor termination; workplace safety; and environmental matters. We also have been identified as a potentially responsible party at multiple waste disposal sites under U.S. federal and related state environmental statutes and regulations and may have joint and several liability for any investigation and remediation costs incurred with respect to such sites. We have denied liability with respect to many of these lawsuits, claims and proceedings and are vigorously defending such lawsuits, claims and proceedings. We carry various forms of commercial, property and casualty, product liability and other forms of insurance; however, such insurance may not be applicable or adequate to cover the costs associated with a judgment against us with respect to these lawsuits, claims and proceedings. We do not believe that these lawsuits are material individually or in the aggregate. While we believe we have also established adequate accruals pursuant to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for our expected future liability with respect to pending lawsuits, claims and proceedings, where the nature and extent of any such liability can be reasonably estimated based upon then presently available information, there can be no assurance that the final resolution of any existing or future lawsuits, claims or proceedings will not have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

The matters described under "Loss Contingency" in Note 12, "PRODUCT WARRANTY LIABILITY," to the Consolidated Financial Statements are incorporated herein by reference.

We conduct significant business operations in Brazil that are subject to the Brazilian federal, state and local labor, social security, tax and customs laws. While we believe we comply with such laws, they are complex, subject to varying interpretations and we are often engaged in litigation regarding the application of these laws to particular circumstances.

On April 29, 2019, we announced that we were conducting a formal internal review of our emissions certification process and compliance with emission standards for our pick-up truck applications, following conversations with the EPA and the CARB regarding certification of our engines in model year 2019 RAM 2500 and 3500 trucks. This review is being conducted with external advisors to ensure the certification and compliance processes for all of our pick-up truck applications are consistent with our internal policies, engineering standards and applicable laws. In addition, we voluntarily disclosed our formal internal review to our regulators and to other government agencies, the DOJ and the SEC, and have been working cooperatively with them to ensure a complete and thorough review. During conversations with the EPA and CARB about the effectiveness of our pick-up truck applications, the regulators raised concerns that certain aspects of our emissions systems may reduce the effectiveness of our emissions control systems and thereby act as defeat devices. As a result, our internal review focuses, in part, on the regulators’ concerns. We are working closely with the regulators to enhance our emissions systems to improve the effectiveness of all of our pick-up truck applications and to fully address the regulators’ requirements. Based on discussions with the regulators, we have developed a new calibration for the engines in model year 2019 RAM 2500 and 3500 trucks that has been included in all engines shipped since September 2019. During our discussions, the regulators have asked us to look at other model years and other engines, though the primary focus of our review has been the model year 2019 RAM. We are also fully cooperating with the DOJ's and the SEC's information requests and inquiries. Due to the continuing nature of our formal review, our ongoing cooperation with our regulators and other government agencies, and the presence of many unknown facts and circumstances, we cannot predict the final outcome of this review and these regulatory and agency processes, and we cannot provide assurance that the matter will not have a materially adverse impact on our results of operations and cash flows.

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