A report from Italy’s transport ministry has revealed that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles was permitted to skip a number of key tests as part of the country’s emissions-cheating investigation.
The report, analyzed by Reuters, includes a number of different tests for illegal engine software, all of which were completed by Volkswagen, Opel, BMW, Ford and Mercedes-Benz.
However, for the Jeep Cherokee 2.0, Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1.6 and Lancia Ypsilon 1.3 tested, results from the on-road measurement phase of the tests and a reversed version of the EU’s ‘NEDC’ lab test have been omitted. Additionally, these three FCA vehicles as well as four others, are missing data from the ‘Artemis’ test, designed to adjust the EU lab regime to reflect urban driving styles.
All of the three key tests skipped have been designed to uncover diesel defeat devices but no explanation has been given as to why the FCA models didn’t undergo them.
During comparable German and French tests, it was discovered that the aforementioned Cherokee 2.0 emitted between 5.3 and 9.9 times the legal NOx limit. Additionally, testing of a Fiat 500L with the same 1.6-liter engine as the Alfa Romeo Giulietta discovered that the powertrain emitted 5.6 times the legal NOx limit.
In a statement, Italy’s transport ministry spokeswoman Luisa Gabbi said that a new version of the document would be released to include more comprehensive testing data of FCA’s models, saying “No key test has been omitted for FCA.”
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