Germany Threatens to Ban Vehicles From Fiat Chrysler Group
Highlights
- German Transport Authority says FCA vehicles use a cheat device
- FCA has refuted the allegations, saying their vehicles meet EU norms
- FCA has asked Italian regulatory authorities to intervene
The German Newspaper Bild Am Sonntag reports that the German Transport Authority (KBA) is in an ongoing tussle with Fiat Chrysler Auto. The KBA believes that the FCA is using emissions tampering software in some of the Fiat models running on diesel. The software deactivates the emission control devices after 22 minutes. This is because the emission test systems in Germany monitor the emissions output for approximately 20 minutes. Representatives from FCA were summoned by Alexander Dobrindt, the transport minister for Germany, and were asked to prove otherwise. From what we gather, Fiat Chrysler Auto has denied the allegations and said that all of their cars respect the EU emission norms and the Italian regulators are the competent authorities to evaluate the same. The last bit particularly did not go down too well with the KBA as representatives from FCA refused to meet them too. The Italian minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Graziano Delrio, has promised his assistance to the German authorities with regards to the same.
In the last few months, more and more automobile manufacturers across the world have been found guilty of bypassing the laws and regulations when it comes to emissions and fuel efficiency. Volkswagen's famous dieselgate scandal left the entire world shocked, while Audi admitted to creating the software that was used by the affected VW cars. Some of the cars were reported to have NOx emissions which were over 20 times the permissible limit.
Japanese manufacturers such as Suzuki and Mitsubishi too were mired in controversies when they admitted to using incorrect methods of testing fuel efficiency. It is becoming increasingly difficult to trust manufacturers and their products in today's times. While the emission norms are being updated at regular intervals, it is equally important, if not more, to update the emission testing procedures as well.
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