The US Justice Department has filed a civil suit against the Fiat Chrysler automotive group on the grounds that the group had used software to cheat the regulators in their vehicles emissions check. The lawsuit focuses on diesel vehicles made between 2014-2016, reports say that it was the Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Ram 1500 trucks. This is somewhat similar to what Volkswagen have been found guilty off but Fiat Chrysler has maintained their innocence.
The Verge reports that in the case of Volkswagen, they used a “defeat device” to totally cheat as it would detect that the car is undergoing a test. This caused the whole dieselgate scandal which rocked the automotive world, resulting in massive fines and mass firings. Fiat Chrysler instead had a different approach whereby the engine performed differently in the first 22 minutes when started.
We shall see how the lawsuit pans out as several other parties chime in with their suspicions as well. Thanks to the ongoing onslaught of scrutiny facing diesel vehicles around the world, regulators are closely monitoring and testing various diesel vehicles to check for emissions and to ensure that automakers aren’t cheating.
