The Environmental Protection Agency accused Fiat Chrysler on Thursday of using secret software that allowed an excess and illegal amount of emissions to go undetected by testing, according to a new report.
The software allegedly reduced the amount of nitrogen oxide that the vehicles emitted during emissions testing — hiding the fact that the vehicles actually emitted excessive pollution in violation of the Clean Air Act. The EPA, however, stopped short of calling the software “defeat devices” — which are illegal. The secret software was reportedly installed on roughly 104,000 diesel vehicles in the US. Affected vehicles include the 2014 to 2016 models of the Dodge Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Cherokee with 3.0-liter diesel engines, according to the New York Times.
Fiat Chrysler rejected the allegations in a press release Thursday, claiming that its emission control systems are compliant with regulations. The company also offered to modify the software in an effort to address the EPA’s concerns, according to the Washington Post. By contesting the EPA charges, Fiat Chrysler’s case will be pushed into the Trump administration. Although it’s not clear how the EPA under a President Trump with deal with these cases, the President-elect’s pick to lead the EPA, Scott Pruitt, has historically been critical of environmental regulations at the federal level, Reuters reported.
Fiat Chrysler’s alleged use of the software came to light after the EPA expanded vehicle testing to look for “defeat devices” after Volkswagen was found to be using similar software in September 2015, WaPo reported.
Last Friday, the FBI arrested Oliver Schmidt, Volkswagen’s former emissions compliance officer, in connection with the German car company’s conspiracy to hide the existence of “defeat devices” that allowed over 11 million vehicles sold between 2006 and 2015 to trick emissions testing. Volkswagen agreed to pay about $16 billion to settle US civil claims. The automaker is also finalizing a $2 billion settlement with the Justice Department.
Fiat Chrysler’s stock dropped as much as 18 percent after news of the software broke. Trading has also been temporarily halted.
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