The Environmental Protection Agency sued automaker Fiat Chrysler on Tuesday for selling clean diesel cars with illegal software that helps them get around federal emissions requirements.
The EPA said the Justice Department filed a civil complaint on its behalf in federal court in Detroit that claims nearly 104,000 diesel cars with 3.0 liter EcoDiesel engines were equipped with software functions that were not disclosed to regulators during the vehicle inspection and certification process.
The complaint also said that “the vehicles contain defeat devices,” which suggests the automaker installed the software to purposefully fool regulators and the EPA to get around the regulations.
“The complaint alleges that the undisclosed software functions cause the vehicles’ emission control systems to perform differently, and less effectively, during certain normal driving conditions than on federal emission tests, resulting in increased emissions of harmful air pollutants,” according to EPA.
The violation is similar to what Volkswagen admitted to in 2015 in its line of diesel cars sold in the U.S. and elsewhere. Ultimately, the defeat devices cost the German automaker billions of dollars in fines, damages to consumers, vehicle fixes and other penalties.
