FCA may be formally prosecuted by the United States for suspected emissions cheating and fined up to $4.6 billion

According to foreign media reports, the U.S. Department of Justice is currently negotiating with Fiat Chrysler (FCA) over the issue of diesel vehicles produced by the automaker violating U.S. clean air regulations. Both sides hope to find a solution. If the negotiations fail, the U.S. Department of Justice will appeal against FCA as early as this week.

Currently, negotiations are ongoing and the two sides may sign an agreement to avoid a lengthy litigation process. So far, the US government has been investigating FCA for several months, and once an appeal is filed, FCA may face significant penalties.

People familiar with the matter said the reason for the appeal was that FCA used illegal software to cheat emissions. The software was configured in a computerized system and could turn off vehicle pollution control devices to improve vehicle performance. In 2015, Volkswagen Group admitted to using software to cheat on U.S. vehicle emissions tests. The cheating software was turned on during the test and turned off under normal circumstances.

FCA strongly denied the cheating allegations, saying the equipment was not originally designed to cheat like Volkswagen did. However, investigators said FCA failed to provide sufficient and convincing evidence to support its claims.

FCA said in a statement that it would "vigorously defend itself against litigation if it were to occur, particularly against the assertion that FCA set up a disabling software program to cheat on the tests." "The company believes that any litigation would adversely affect its negotiations with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board."

FCA is currently applying to install the updated software in its 2017 diesel vehicles. The EPA stated in its violation statement in January this year that FCA had planned to install the above software in 2014-2016 models.

As of press time, the U.S. Department of Justice and EPA declined to comment on the matter.

Maybe there is something wrong

In January, the EPA said FCA sold 104,000 Jeep Grand Cherokees and 1,500 Ram pickup trucks with diesel engines equipped with "emissions auxiliary control devices" that the company had not reported to the EPA.

The undisclosed emission control devices in the violation notices are likely defeat devices, some of which "appear to cause the vehicle to behave differently under testing conditions than under normal use." The EPA said it has data showing that FCA vehicles have higher nitrogen oxide emissions under certain conditions.

At that time, EPA Administrator Cynthia Giles said that the violation would result in a fine of $44,539 per vehicle for FCA, and based on FCA's sales volume, the total fine could be as high as $4.6 billion. However, FCA CEO Marchionne denied the accusation in a conference call on January 12. Last month, Marchionne mentioned the issue again, saying that "we may have made mistakes" in the disclosure of diesel software information, but he said that FCA "never tried to violate the law."

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.