Watch CBS News

US Says Fiat Chrysler Used Software To Beat Emissions Tests

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - The U.S. government is suing Fiat Chrysler, alleging that some diesel pickup trucks and Jeeps cheat on emissions tests.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday claims that nearly 104,000 Ram pickup trucks and Jeep Grand Cherokees have software installed that makes them perform differently during normal driving than during lab tests by Environmental Protection Agency.

"This follows several months of negotiations that apparently haven't borne fruit," said WWJ AutoBeat Reporter Jeff Gilbert. "

FCA is not commenting yet on the suit itself, but the company has said in the past that it does not cheat on diesel emissions and that anything along the lines of that is untrue and they intend to defend themselves vigorously.

"The company stating that they feel they've developed updated emissions software that can allay some of the government's concern. FCA saying installation of that updated software will improve vehicles emission performance and it doesn't anticipate any impact on the performance or the fuel efficiency," says Gilbert.

The suit comes after a similar case involving Volkswagen. The German automaker in April was ordered to pay a $2.8 billion criminal penalty after admitting 600,000 diesel cars in the U.S. were programmed to turn on pollution controls during testing and off while on the road.

© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.