SoylentNews

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

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.

Original Submission