EPA and Department of Justice suit concerns some 104,000 diesels. Yikes.
The United States Department of Justice, along with the US Environmental Protection Agency, has launched a lawsuit against them, taking issue with some 104,000 vehicles fitted with a 3.0-litre diesel engine that purportedly cheats its way through emissions regulation testing.
The complaint details that vehicles fitted with this engine (including the Jeep Grand Cherokee and RAM 1500 EcoDiesel) come with “software functions” that were not mentioned during the certification process. The DoJ then said that the software permitted affected vehicles to pass emissions testing, while being “less efficient” during normal driving conditions.
FCA responded to this suit, and said that it will “defend itself vigorously, particularly against any claims that the company engaged in any deliberate scheme to install defeat devices to cheat US emissions tests.” Despite being interestingly worded, the FCA response continued to say that they are working together with the EPA and the Californian Air Resources Board (CARB) to deal with what they take issue with.
This development comes after FCA filed an application with the EPA and CARB to certify 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokees and RAM 1500 EcoDiesel models which come with “updated emissions software calibrations,” while also seeking to fit that same software on earlier models. While the company continues to deny wrongdoing, FCA claims that the changes made to the emissions software was done solely to “dress the agencies’ concerns regarding the emissions software calibrations” that were present in affected models.
Stay tuned to CarShowroom for more information as it comes.
