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Fiat emissions probe: UK asks for details from US regulator Fiat emissions probe: UK seeks details from US regulator
(35 minutes later)
The UK Department for Transport has asked for details of a US probe into Fiat Chrysler diesel emissions software as a matter of urgency.The UK Department for Transport has asked for details of a US probe into Fiat Chrysler diesel emissions software as a matter of urgency.
The car maker has been accused of not telling authorities about software that could allow excess diesel emissions in thousands of vehicles.The car maker has been accused of not telling authorities about software that could allow excess diesel emissions in thousands of vehicles.
The UK is facing legal action by the European Union over a separate emissions scandal involving Volkswagen. US regulator the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said 104,000 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Ram 1500 trucks were affected.
The EU is pursuing the UK for failing to take action against VW. Fiat has rejected the allegations.
A Department for Transport spokesman said: "We are urgently seeking further information from the US Environmental Protection Agency ... and will also be seeking information from the manufacturer regarding vehicles in the UK market." A Department for Transport spokesman said it was "urgently seeking further information" from the EPA as well as Fiat Chrysler about vehicles sold in the UK.
Ignorance or artifice? "Our priority is to protect the interests of UK consumers ... the department's new Market Surveillance Unit has the ability to test these vehicles if necessary," he said.
John German from the International Council on Clean Transportation was part of the team that discovered VW software was evading emissions tests. The Jeep Grand Cherokee is sold in the UK, but the Dodge Ram is not.
He told the BBC's Today programme that a distinction should be drawn between VW and Fiat Chrysler (FCA). Fiat Chrysler chief executive Sergio Marchionne said on Thursday that the company had done nothing illegal.
"VW had software embedded that looked for the actual test cycle used for regulatory purposes, and when they recognised it they turned the emissions controls on, and all other times they shut the emissions controls off. So in the real world, the emissions controls were basically off all of the time. "There was never any intent of creating conditions that were designed to defeat the testing process. This is absolute nonsense," he added.
"FCA has not done this. What they're doing is they're looking at things like vehicle speed, vehicle acceleration, and so they're shutting the emission controls off some of the time in the real world, but not all of the time." The EPA said Fiat Chrysler could be liable for fines of about $44,500 per vehicle, which could mean a total of about $4.6bn (£3.8bn).
He added that although FCA emissions appeared to be higher in the real world, it was not clear whether this was deliberate. On Wednesday, Volkswagen pleaded guilty to three criminal charges to settle US charges over its emissions-rigging scandal that affected almost 600,000 diesel vehicles. It will also pay fines of $4.3bn (£3.5bn).
"It has to do with how exemptions from the defeat device regulations are interpreted in Europe and in the US, and so it could have been just more ignorance on the part of the Fiat Chrysler people who were calibrating this engine." John German, of the International Council on Clean Transportation, said told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that a distinction should be drawn between VW and Fiat Chrysler (FCA).
"VW had software embedded that looked for the actual test cycle used for regulatory purposes, and when they recognised it they turned the emissions controls on, and all other times they shut the emissions controls off. So in the real world, the emissions controls were basically off all of the time," he said.
'More ignorance'
"FCA has not done this - they're looking at things like vehicle speed, vehicle acceleration, and shutting the emission controls off some of the time in the real world, but not all of the time."
Mr German said that although emissions from Fiat Chrysler engines appeared to be higher in the real world, it was not clear whether this was deliberate.
"It has to do with how exemptions from the defeat device regulations are interpreted in Europe and in the US, and so it could have been just more ignorance on the part of the Fiat Chrysler people who were calibrating this engine," he said.