Fiat Chrysler Settles On Emissions Cheating Scheme

Fiat Chrysler will not be required to admit any wrongdoing as part of a roughly $800 million settlement of a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department alleging that the company used software on more than 100,000 diesel-powered pickups and SUVs similar to the devices used by Volkswagen AG to cheat U.S. emissions-testing. The company will not be required to buy back any of the affected vehicles. It will pay $280 million to drivers of Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Ram 1500 pickups from the 2014-16 model years, and $305 million in civil penalties to the DOJ, the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board, plus at least $72 million to states whose attorneys general sued over the cheating. Other federal agencies and states filed separate lawsuits, bringing total payments to almost $800 million. The company has made a point to say that affected vehicles require only a software fix, unlike Volkswagen, which had to provide new hardware. It initially feared it could face fines of up to $4.6 billion.