The government will not participate in the talks.
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Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is set to engage in settlement talks with lawyers on October 12, discussing potential compensations for owners suing the company over excess diesel emissions. Earlier this year, the U.S. Justice Department sued the automaker of using illegal engine software in nearly 104,000 Dodge and Ram diesel vehicles, sold in the country since 2014.
The U.S. vehicle owners are also suing German auto parts supplier Bosch, which developed the diesel systems in those vehicles. The company will also join the settlement talks next month, settlement master Ken Feinberg confirmed in court yesterday. The government will not take part in the talks.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles denied wrongdoing, claiming it has never attempted to create a software to cheat emissions restrictions.
In January this year, the EPA announced at least eight auxiliary emissions control devices were not disclosed to the agency when FCA certified the diesel 3.0-liter engines of the 2014-2016 Dodge Ram 1500 and the 2014-2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee, suggesting violations of the Clean Air Act.
According to the EPA, the engines meet the emissions standards at normal driving, but the engine software reduces the emissions system’s effectiveness at high speeds or when driving for extended periods.
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FCA then declared its engines “are equipped with state-of-the-art emission control systems hardware, including selective catalytic reduction (SCR),” which meet the applicable requirements. The automaker claimed it “has proposed a number of actions to address EPA’s concerns, including developing extensive software changes to our emissions control strategies that could be implemented in these vehicles immediately to further improve emissions performance.”
Source: Automotive News