EPA Going After Fiat Chrysler

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Here's the EPA Release:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today issued a notice of violation to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. and FCA US LLC (collectively FCA) for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act for installing and failing to disclose engine management software in light-duty model year 2014, 2015 and 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Ram 1500 trucks with 3.0 liter diesel engines sold in the United States. The undisclosed software results in increased emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from the vehicles. The allegations cover roughly 104,000 vehicles. EPA is working in coordination with the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which has also issued a notice of violation to FCA. EPA and CARB have both initiated investigations based on FCA’s alleged actions.

“Failing to disclose software that affects emissions in a vehicle’s engine is a serious violation of the law, which can result in harmful pollution in the air we breathe,” said Cynthia Giles, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “We continue to investigate the nature and impact of these devices. All automakers must play by the same rules, and we will continue to hold companies accountable that gain an unfair and illegal competitive advantage.”

“Once again, a major automaker made the business decision to skirt the rules and got caught,” said CARB Chair Mary D. Nichols. “CARB and U.S. EPA made a commitment to enhanced testing as the Volkswagen case developed, and this is a result of that collaboration.”

The Clean Air Act requires vehicle manufacturers to demonstrate to EPA through a certification process that their products meet applicable federal emission standards to control air pollution. As part of the certification process, automakers are required to disclose and explain any software, known as auxiliary emission control devices, that can alter how a vehicle emits air pollution. FCA did not disclose the existence of certain auxiliary emission control devices to EPA in its applications for certificates of conformity for model year 2014, 2015 and 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Ram 1500 trucks, despite being aware that such a disclosure was mandatory. By failing to disclose this software and then selling vehicles that contained it, FCA violated important provisions of the Clean Air Act.

FCA may be liable for civil penalties and injunctive relief for the violations alleged in the NOV. EPA is also investigating whether the auxiliary emission control devices constitute “defeat devices,” which are illegal.

In September 2015, EPA instituted an expanded testing program to screen for defeat devices on light duty vehicles. This testing revealed that the FCA vehicle models in question produce increased NOx emissions under conditions that would be encountered in normal operation and use. As part of the investigation, EPA has found at least eight undisclosed pieces of software that can alter how a vehicle emits air pollution.

FCA US LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., a multinational corporation.
 
They also produce additional NOx if you remove the ridiculous emissions equipment. Or, so I'm told.
 
From this warning it is still a very different situation that what happened with VW. VW had confirmed defeat devices in the software. According to this release they are still working to determine if any of these undisclosed software functions contain defeat devices.

For reference, a defeat device is software that will alter the operation when it detects it is undergoing testing but not in other situations.

Each vehicle had numerous parts of the code that would qualify under "auxiliary emissions control devices." Most of the time they are explained to the EPA in extensive paperwork and everyone goes on. An example would be, running at different conditions in abnormally cold ambient temperatures to avoid mechanical harm.

It's easy to jump to conclusions when seeing press releases like this but there are many different outcomes that vary greatly in severity.
 
Originally Posted By: 09_GXP
From this warning it is still a very different situation that what happened with VW. VW had confirmed defeat devices in the software. According to this release they are still working to determine if any of these undisclosed software functions contain defeat devices.

For reference, a defeat device is software that will alter the operation when it detects it is undergoing testing but not in other situations.

Each vehicle had numerous parts of the code that would qualify under "auxiliary emissions control devices." Most of the time they are explained to the EPA in extensive paperwork and everyone goes on. An example would be, running at different conditions in abnormally cold ambient temperatures to avoid mechanical harm.

It's easy to jump to conclusions when seeing press releases like this but there are many different outcomes that vary greatly in severity.

This is similar to software issue on VW/Audi 3.0 V6 TDi. They failed to disclose certain type of software, but it was not defeat device like on 2.0TDI.
 
Interesting. I had read a blurb about possible "defeat" devices on the VM Motori v6 in Europe sometime last summer, but never tracked what became of it.

This description sounds a little more grey-area than VW's cut-and-dried cheat (which included a time-out longer than the expected duration of an emissions test). The language "the FCA vehicle models in question produce increased NOx emissions under conditions that would be encountered in normal operation and use" sounds more like a calibration or design shortcoming, although I suppose that could also be a deliberate way to cheat.

Things are continuing to be "interesting" (not in the good sense of the word) for the troubled life of diesel vehicles in North America. I guess we really are married to gasoline for the foreseeable future.
 
Originally Posted By: Bandito440
They also produce additional NOx if you remove the ridiculous emissions equipment. Or, so I'm told.


I'd trade some additional NOx for reliability and fuel economy.

Seems that no one can make these modern diesels reliable any more.
 
Diesels became extremely popular in Europe. But air quality in European cities got worse.

Say what you want about California but our air quality regulations made it tougher on diesels than anywhere else in the world and it turned out to be a good thing.
 
"The Italians are coming, the Italians are coming." And look what showed up, the Fiat 500 POP.
frown.gif
 
Now that the alert is on we're in for some interesting times. These government agencies may not be well situated to discover problems on their own but they're certainly equipped to drop the hammer.

Because of the number of vehicles out there a little pollution from one vehicle quickly adds up. I hope that people reward the cheaters by dropping them of their list when shopping for a new vehicle. These problems fall directly back on the management and their willful decisions. There's no explaining such wrong doing.
 
Death of a thousand cuts for FCA.
Too bad as they build some drool worthy machines, but they don't add much to the bottom line.

Viper (RIP)
Charger (Hemi versions)
Challenger (Hemi versions)
Wildcat
JGC SRT8

The rest are meh, including the Ram. Ram is long in the tooth and they have to deep discount them to move them.
 
Originally Posted By: rshaw125
Eight days and counting down.


YES MAGA starts in a week and I am sure there will be many changes at the EPA, so the new adminstation will
probably listen to the technical details.
 
Quote:
Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, during a call with journalists, angrily denied the company was cheating and has been in talks with EPA and made significant disclosures of documents.

"We have done nothing that is illegal," he said. "There was never any intent of creating conditions that were designed to defeat the testing process. This is absolute nonsense."

He added: "There's not a guy in this (company) who would try something as stupid as (cheating on diesel tests) ... We don't belong to a class of criminals."


http://www.autonews.com/article/20170112...iesel-emissions
 
Originally Posted By: Danno

The rest are meh, including the Ram. Ram is long in the tooth and they have to deep discount them to move them.


New from the wheels up in 2011 (1500), and 2012-13 (2500/3500) and incremental improvements since? Hardly long-in-the-tooth, and still has the highest-tech, best all-roudn rear suspension of the big 3. Yes Ford's great aluminum experiment is more recent and Nissan has made some waves with the new Titan (yet to be determined if it will actually *sell*), but IIRC the last major mechanical overhaul on the GM C/K trucks was around the same time or even before the Ram's makeover. And the Tundra? Stagnant. I find it hard to call the Ram "long in the tooth" by any rational comparison.

Even if they have to lose the Ecodiesel completely (which is FAR from certain- its not even certain that its non-compliant!) its a small segment of sales. The worst thing going for the former Chrysler section of FCA is that Sergio Marchionne keeps wooing other car companies to buy/merge with FCA... its more amazing how well the group keeps doing under a dark cloud like that! Chrysler's big problem has never been the engineering or the cars, its been nearly 30 years of very poor high-level management.

As for the rest of the lineup other than your "drool worthy" machines... have you COUNTED the number of v6 LX/LC cars, Grand Cherokees, 4 and v6 Cherokees on the road lately? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to recall that sales of the LX/LC cars (300, Charger, Challenger) hit an all-time high in 2016 and it wasn't the "drool-worthy" muscle versions that carried the bulk of sales.
 
The EPA is just one of the unelected and unaccountable letter agencies running amok.

I would take anything they say with a grain of salt, perhaps some tequila.
 
Originally Posted By: john6974332
The real crime is the unreliability of Chrysler vehicles.


But people keep buying them...
confused2.gif
 
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