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Bloomberg reports
Fiat Chrysler wanted to use software in its diesel engines that was capable of "cycle detection", meaning it could sense when the vehicle was undergoing emissions evaluations and activate controls to pass tests, Sergio Pasini, the controls and calibration director at supplier VM Motori, wrote in a 2010 email to colleagues. An employee within the automaker's powertrain division had tried to convince him the software, called "t_engine", didn't count as cycle detection.
The automaker's emissions control "will be managed mainly on t_engine which is, no matter what Fiat says, a cycle detection", Pasini wrote in an email, according to a court document that was unsealed on [May 16].
[...] The lawsuit, filed on behalf of consumers as a class action, claims that Fiat Chrysler misled buyers of its Jeep Grand Cherokee sport utility vehicles and Ram 1500 pickups by touting the fuel economy and performance of its EcoDiesel engines while cheating on emissions tests to win regulatory approval.
In 2012, another VM Motori employee, Emanuele Palma, wrote to colleagues that Fiat Chrysler "knows tEng is the only way to get to 30 mpg, so don't worry about this topic", The automaker touted the 30 miles per gallon highway gas mileage in marketing materials for its 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
[...] Fiat Chrysler bought a 50 percent stake in VM Motori in 2011 and purchased the remaining shares from General Motors Co. in 2013.
The complaint with sealed material was filed April 23 then re-filed [May 16] with redacted portions that were newly visible.[1]
[...] In a separate lawsuit brought by shareholders in 2015 claiming the company misled investors about vehicle safety problems, an unsealed document filed in federal court in Manhattan on [May 21] alleged that several employees knew the company's diesel vehicles contained defeat devices before regulators made their concerns public.
The document alleged that a Fiat Chrysler employee claimed to have alerted upper management that diesel engines contained such devices and indicated that a description of an emissions control strategy the company provided to regulators was inaccurate in internal messaging communications in 2014.
[1] Does anyone know what that is saying? Was new stuff added, increasing the bulk of the document--but that new stuff was blacked out?
...or is it that portions which were previously blacked out are now readable? Heh. "Journalists" and "editors".
In related news, Auto Express reports[2]
Porsche [corporate overlord: Volkswagen AG] to recall 53,000 diesel Macans and 6,750 diesel Cayennes in Europe at request of German motor authorities
The recall affects the 3.0-litre V6 diesel Macan and 4.2-litre V8 diesel Cayenne, which both feature engines developed by Audi.
Germany's federal motor authority (KBA) made the request after the discovery of "inadmissible defeat devices", which could lead to increased NOx emissions during on-road driving compared to laboratory tests.
[2] All content is behind scripts.
We've previously talked a lot about Volkswagen AG getting busted for this.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 27 2018, @04:06PM (4 children)
Fiat Chrysler has nothing to worry about because Scott Pruitt, our EPA chief, doesn't care about milage or emissions or the environment. He'll just recommend that the president tell the DOJ to let this slide. Since we now have precedent that the president can openly and publicly demand that the DOJ take specific actions, the Fiat Chrysler folks will walk away from this unscathed (though it is recommended that they hire Michael Cohen for $100k a month to help them interpret the president's intentions).
Before you mark this as troll or flamebait, there is nothing about this post that is outlandish or unplausible based on our current administration.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 27 2018, @04:19PM
There's also the whole American jobs angle that makes fines like those levied against VW very unlikely.
(Score: 3, Informative) by shortscreen on Sunday May 27 2018, @06:21PM
You might be right, but mileage wasn't a problem with the diesel cheats. Mileage and carbon emissions actually improved with the cheat, while NOx emissions were not in compliance.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 27 2018, @07:30PM
Cheaper to pay for commercial breaks during Spongebob.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 27 2018, @11:24PM
You missed a word in TFS. Here it is again: consumers
(That was in the story title, as submitted.) [soylentnews.org]
This is a tort AKA a civil case, not a criminal prosecution.
So, you're completely off the mark mentioning Trumpism.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Bot on Monday May 28 2018, @06:56AM
Fiat reputation ends up way better, with these news.
To witness Fiat not cheating, given the chance, was so anomalous that people started thinking dieselgate was a Fiat operation to hurt the competition.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 28 2018, @08:22AM (1 child)
Known to whom? Fiat Chrysler? Of course it was known to Fiat Chrysler, the code in question did not evolve by natural selection inside the engine management system, it was written by Fiat Chrysler software engineers.
To management? Depends... Was the management doing their jobs? It's their job to know these things, so either they knew or they weren't doing their jobs. Either way, they don't go free.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 28 2018, @07:39PM
Often, when you RTFA, your questions get answered.
Hint: In the modern manufacture of stuff, subassemblies are often contracted out and there is an *email*[1] trail of communications between the company whose name goes on the finished product and its vendors.
[1] See the title of the story, as published here.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]