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West Virginia University Researchers Find Fiat Chrysler Diesel-Emissions Discrepancies

WVU says 2015 Ram Diesel trucks emissions up to 25 times above U.S. standards

By Mike Spector Updated June 13, 2017 1:13 p.m. ET
https://www.wsj.com/articles/west-virginia-university-researchers-find-fiat-chrysler-diesel-emissions-discrepancies-1497373409

West Virginia University researchers found Fiat Chrysler Automobiles FCAU -0.36% NV vehicles with diesel engines produced significant emissions discrepancies between the road and the lab, resembling earlier conclusions they reached with Volkswagen AG cars that helped expose a long-running deception.

Diesel-powered Ram pickup trucks when tested on the road produced nitrogen-oxide emissions up to 25 times above allowable levels in the U.S., and similarly equipped Jeep Grand Cherokee sport-utility vehicles up to eight times, according to a report on the researchers’ findings reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Those results were for 2015 models, while 2014 models had “significantly increased” emissions on the road compared with the lab, the report said.

The 74-page report, expected to be released in coming weeks, tested five model-year 2014 and 2015 vehicles and found significant emissions discrepancies between on-road performance and lab tests, despite Fiat Chrysler’s attempts last year to address the excess pollution in part through a recall of 2014 models. The report stopped short of concluding whether the Italian-U.S. auto maker used illegal software meant to dupe regulators.

The findings add to mounting pressure on Fiat Chrysler, which the U.S. Justice Department in May accused of using illegal defeat-device software on nearly 104,000 2014-2016 Ram pickup trucks and Jeep Grand Cherokees with diesel engines to cheat emissions tests. The models used software to pass government emissions tests and then turned down or shut off controls to let the vehicles emit illegally high levels of pollution, according to a Justice Department civil lawsuit filed against the auto maker. Fiat Chrysler has denied using defeat devices.

West Virginia University researchers found Fiat Chrysler Automobiles FCAU -0.27% NV vehicles with diesel engines produced significant emissions discrepancies between the road and the lab, resembling earlier conclusions they reached with Volkswagen AG cars that helped expose a long-running deception.

Diesel-powered Ram pickup trucks when tested on the road produced nitrogen-oxide emissions up to 25 times above allowable levels in the U.S., and similarly equipped Jeep Grand Cherokee sport-utility vehicles up to eight times, according to a report on the researchers’ findings reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Those results were for 2015 models, while 2014 models had “significantly increased” emissions on the road compared with the lab, the report said.

The 74-page report, expected to be released in coming weeks, tested five model-year 2014 and 2015 vehicles and found significant emissions discrepancies between on-road performance and lab tests, despite Fiat Chrysler’s attempts last year to address the excess pollution in part through a recall of 2014 models. The report stopped short of concluding whether the Italian-U.S. auto maker used illegal software meant to dupe regulators.

The findings add to mounting pressure on Fiat Chrysler, which the U.S. Justice Department in May accused of using illegal defeat-device software on nearly 104,000 2014-2016 Ram pickup trucks and Jeep Grand Cherokees with diesel engines to cheat emissions tests. The models used software to pass government emissions tests and then turned down or shut off controls to let the vehicles emit illegally high levels of pollution, according to a Justice Department civil lawsuit filed against the auto maker. Fiat Chrysler has denied using defeat devices.

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Fiat Chrysler disputed the university findings, pointing to factors in on-road testing that allegedly skewed the results. The auto maker pointed to the university researchers conducting on-road tests that departed from U.S. environmental regulators’ test procedures by being done at 50% higher average speeds, with 600 to 700 pounds more payload and under dissimilar road conditions.

U.S. regulatory tests are limited to the lab, and Fiat Chrysler contends on-road testing results are problematic absent agreed-upon standards.

“Each of the above may increase emissions readings, therefore rendering invalid a comparison of on-road and off-road test results,” the company said in a statement, adding that the factors make comparisons misleading. The auto maker also took issue with researchers procuring parts from a salvage yard for aspects of its testing.

Fiat Chrysler attempted to discuss the findings in detail with university researchers to no avail, the company said.

“We stand by the research and the results,” a university spokesman said. “There is no question in our mind of the integrity of the report and the results we reported.”

Fiat Chrysler in its statement claimed the research “appears to have been commissioned by a plaintiffs’ law firm for the purposes of litigation.” According to people familiar with the matter, former Wall Street investment banking executives are among the backers of the research through an outside firm.

The Justice Department lawsuit’s formal accusation that Fiat Chrysler used illegal software went further than a violation notice the Environmental Protection Agency delivered to the auto maker earlier this year. The EPA in January said the auto maker failed to disclose auxiliary emission-control devices, rendering them unlawful. Adding defeat-device violations could push penalties against Fiat Chrysler above $8 billion, far higher than the $4.6 billion the EPA previously estimated.

It isn’t clear whether the government will pursue penalties that high. Volkswagen, though agreeing to billions of dollars in legal settlements, ultimately paid less than the maximum fines to address regulators’ accusations.

Fiat Chrysler, which has offered a fix it believes will address regulators’ concerns, has denied using defeat devices and expressed disappointment in the Justice Department’s decision to sue. Responding to the suit in May, Fiat Chrysler said it would “defend itself vigorously, particularly against any claims that the company engaged in any deliberate scheme to install defeat devices to cheat U.S. emissions tests.”

Fiat Chrysler previously recalled 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Ram pickups with diesel engines to replace the select catalytic converter in an effort to address “washcoat degradation” that could lead to excess emissions. West Virginia University researchers found the Jeeps’ emissions improved after the recall, though they were still elevated. The emissions performance of the Ram trucks didn’t significantly change after the recall, the researchers found.

The recall “definitely didn’t fix the problem,” said Dan Carder, director of West Virginia University’s Center for Alternative Fuels Engines and Emissions, adding the discrepancies researchers observed were similar to those when he tested Volkswagen vehicles later discovered to be equipped with illegal emissions-cheating software.

Mr. Carder and other university researchers didn’t evaluate whether the Fiat Chrysler vehicles also contained defeat-device software. Still, “when you see differences, it’s suggesting there are control strategies that are making emissions controls perform differently in the test [lab] than in the field,” he said.

Volkswagen pleaded guilty to criminal charges and agreed to financial penalties earlier this year to settle a Justice Department probe, admitting it had conspired for nearly a decade to rig nearly 600,000 vehicles with defeat devices that circumvented government test procedures and deceived U.S. officials.

Combined with civil settlements among consumers, regulators, dealers and state attorneys general, Volkswagen’s environmental transgressions could cost it more than $25 billion in the U.S. alone depending on how many vehicles the auto maker repurchases. Volkswagen still faces scrutiny from German investigators.

Mr. Carder and other West Virginia researchers found elevated emissions levels in diesel-powered Volkswagen vehicles in 2014, then shared their findings with U.S. and California environmental regulators. That eventually led to Volkswagen admitting to regulators it had used defeat devices, precipitating an unprecedented crisis at the auto maker.

With the Fiat Chrysler research, Mr. Carder and others tested emissions levels during a variety of real-world driving conditions, including on highways and uphill trips at higher elevations. Those emissions levels were compared with those when vehicles were placed on a chassis dynamometer to simulate tests performed for government certification.

Write to Mike Spector at [e-mail]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/west-virginia-university-researchers-find-fiat-chrysler-diesel-emissions-discrepancies-1497373409