US Justice Department Planning Civil Suit Against Fiat-Chrysler Relating To Diesel Vehicle Emissions

The US Justice Department is currently planning to launch a civil lawsuit against Fiat-Chrysler in relation to the company’s alleged use of defeat devices in diesel vehicles as a means of defrauding regulators, according to recent reports.

Previous to this news, back in January, the US Environmental Protection Agency publicly alleged that Fiat-Chrysler used undisclosed software (“defeat devices”) in its diesel vehicles to allow for the emission of excess levels of various pollutants.

These allegations relate to around 104,000 diesel cars and SUVs sold in the US in recent years.

Reuters provides more: “A federal judge in California has set a May 24 hearing on a series of lawsuits filed by owners of vehicles against Fiat Chrysler and the Justice Department is expected to file its action by then if no agreement is reached.”

“FCA said on Wednesday it believed that any litigation would be ‘counterproductive’ to ongoing discussions with the EPA and California Air Resources Board. The company added that ‘in the case of any litigation, FCA US will defend itself vigorously, particularly against any claims that the company deliberately installed defeat devices to cheat US emissions tests.'”

Maybe so, but if the company did install such devices, as seems likely, then things aren’t likely to go well for the company — considering the precedent set by the case against Volkswagen.

I’ll end this article by noting that when the Volkswagen scandal was ongoing, I heard from a lot of Germans (and from “German-Americans”) that the case against Volkswagen was a witch hunt and was motivated by “anti-German” sentiment (a clear case of projection on the part of those saying such things, to my eyes). Now that the case against Fiat-Chrysler is coming along in the US, I have to wonder: why haven’t I heard any Italians complaining about how “unfairly” they are being treated?