Fiat Chrysler Looking to Settle Diesel Emissions Lawsuits

Volkswagen has gotten most of the attention for its diesel emissions scandal, but VW is far from the only automaker that’s been caught dodging emissions laws. Fiat Chrysler has also been caught using software to cheat diesel emissions. FCA’s cheating was egregious enough that back in May, the U.S. federal government sued the automaker. But while FCA is still facing that lawsuit, it’s looking to settle with vehicle owners who also sued.

Reuters reports that, according to a court-appointed settlement advisor, FCA will begin settlement talks on October 12. According to the U.S. Justice Department, FCA used illegal software to sell around 104,000 diesel vehicles that didn’t actually meet emissions standards. These talks will only be with vehicle owners, though, not the federal government.

Leigh Rende, a lawyer for the Justice Department, did, however, tell Reuters that both California and the federal government are close to reaching an agreement on how to test the fix FCA says it has for the cheating diesels. Back in July, FCA was approved to begin selling 2017 model year diesels again. Robert Giuffra, a lawyer for FCA said in court that because the engine and emissions controls are no different from the old vehicles, the automaker is confident it can fix the issue with a simple software update.

Still, the company denies that it ever intentionally cheated emissions laws, claiming it didn’t specifically write the software to hide diesel emissions during testing.

Source: Reuters

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