One day after the Department of Justice announced criminal charges against Volkswagen employees in connection to the company's emissions cheating scandal, the Environmental Protection Agency has formally accused Chrysler of rigging their vehicles to cheat.
According to the EPA, Fiat Chrysler may be guilty of doing exactly what Volkswagen did.
"The software is designed such that during the emissions tests, Fiat Chrysler's diesel cars meet the standards that protect clean air," EPA Assistant Administrator Cynthia Giles told reporters on a conference call. "However, under some other kinds of operating conditions, including many that occur frequently during normal driving, the software directs the emissions control system to operate differently, resulting in emissions that can be much higher."
For their part, Fiat Chrysler has denied the allegations and says they're looking forward to working with the next administration (Trump) to resolve the situation.
In other words, they're counting on Team Trump to let them off the hook and I see no reason to believe the Trumps won't oblige.
The rest of the world is another matter. Excess emissions produced by diesel vehicles cannot be ignored in other parts of the world, mainly Europe, where a majority of citizens drive diesel vehicles. And if the company has cheated in America, they've probably cheated elsewhere. The Volkswagen cheating scandal was originally exposed in California and led directly back home to Germany.
The American vehicles immediately implicated by the EPA include the Jeep Cherokee and Ram 1500 trucks with diesel engines.