It’s official: the Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit in United States District Court against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and VM Motori over violations of the Clean Air Act, specifically against the 3.0L VM Motori diesel V6 engine sold in Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Cherokees between 2013-2016. According to the lawsuit, FCA was using software to turn off sections of the emissions systems of the 3.0L diesel under certain conditions, allowing levels of nitrogen oxide far beyond levels allowed by the Clean Air Act to be produced. Where the issue lies is not that FCA incorporated the shutoffs, but that they were not disclosed to the Environmental Protection Agency in the certification application. FCA has claimed that this was due to errors on their part ever since accusations were brought forward.
“FCA US has been working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for many months, including extensive testing of the vehicles, to clarify issues related to the Company’s emissions control technology in model-year (MY) 2014-2016 Jeep® Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500 diesel vehicles.
FCA US is currently reviewing the complaint, but is disappointed that the DOJ-ENRD has chosen to file this lawsuit. The Company intends to defend itself vigorously, particularly against any claims that the Company engaged in any deliberate scheme to install defeat devices to cheat U.S. emissions tests.
As FCA US announced last week, it has developed updated emissions software calibrations that it believes address the concerns of EPA and CARB, and has now formally filed for diesel vehicle emissions certification with the regulators for its 2017 model year (MY) Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500 diesel vehicles. Subject to the permission of EPA and CARB, FCA US intends to install the same modified emissions software in 2014-2016 MY Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500 diesel vehicles. FCA US believes this will address the agencies’ concerns regarding the emissions software calibrations in those vehicles.
FCA expects that the installation of these updated software calibrations will improve the 2014-2016 MY vehicles’ emissions performance and does not anticipate any impact on performance or fuel efficiency.
Notwithstanding this lawsuit, the Company remains committed to working cooperatively with EPA and CARB to resolve the agencies’ concerns quickly and amicably.”
What’s the justification for those obscene penalties? Wouldn’t the idea of an agency that was actually acting for the good of the people at large, or even the world, (If you believe that crap) work to help a legitimate error on the part of a corporation rather than try to destroy it with billions of dollars of fines. Where’s the fines levied on the EPA for the many toxic spills THEY have created? I know, I’m just talking to myself…
The justification for these \”obscene\” plenties is that they broke the law. Regardless if this is a \”legitimate\” error, which I doubt given Chryslers horrifying track record, you are still responsible for the products you sell to the public.
This investigation is long overdue !
The tiny VW diesels got clobbered while the monster diesels sold in the light duty trucks are now revealed to be gross polluters.
Expect the after market diesel mods to also end up outlawed as the horrendous \”coaling\” of the atmosphere is totally on the EPA radar screen.
Watch diesel fuels to get a new tax overnight make them even less attractive.
As \”big daddy\” said in a recent video, all it takes is one stroke of a politicians pen to outlaw an industry.
Please tell me you are joking
******BREAKING NEWS******
GM Tumbles After Allegations Of Rigging Truck Emissions Tests
General Motors\’ stock price is tumbling after reports that the carmaker is accused of putting defeat devices in its trucks to beat emissions tests, becoming the sixth carmaker accused of diesel cheating since 2015, when Volkswagen AG admitted to installing software to bypass pollution rules.
Bloomberg reports that People who own or lease more than 705,000 GM Duramax diesel trucks filed a class-action lawsuit Thursday, claiming GM installed multiple such devices in two models of heavy-duty trucks from 2011 to 2016