Fiat Chrysler to improve vehicle emissions technology

Fiat Chrysler has announced that it will be offering new settings on its most recent diesel vehicles to make them cleaner. The news comes after the company finished an internal study of its own vehicles in the wake of the Volkswagen emissions scandal. Fiat reiterated that all its vehicles comply with emission regulations and that the company doesn't cheat on emissions tests, saying it will voluntarily offer the new pollution settings starting in April. The car maker also said it will add a different filtering technology, called selective catalytic reduction, to more of its diesel cars starting from Q2 2017, claiming the change is necessary to meet new testing procedures being considered by the European Parliament, which would more closely mimic real-world conditions.

Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne. Wikimedia Commons

Automotive giant Fiat Chrysler (FCA) has announced it will be offering new settings on its most recent diesel vehicles in order to make them cleaner.

The news comes after the company finished an internal study of its own vehicles in the wake of the Volkswagen emissions scandal.

Bloomberg's Tommaso Ebhardt reported:

Fiat reiterated that all its vehicles comply with emission regulations and the company doesn’t cheat on emissions tests, saying it will offer the new pollution settings starting in April as a “voluntary measure not mandated or requested by any regulatory authorities.” The carmaker said it will also add a different filtering technology, called selective catalytic reduction, to more of its diesel cars starting from the second quarter of 2017.

Fiat Chrysler claims the change is necessary to meet new testing procedures currently being mulled over by the European Parliament, which would more closely mimic real-world conditions.

The current proposal would actually increase emissions limits, but hopes that the new testing will deny manufacturers the ability to simply make their cars better at taking emissions tests while showing worse performance in real driving conditions.

The plan has thus far been called too permissive by the EU's environmental counsel, but has received support from automakers as well as several governments.