Fiat Chrysler to pay Tesla hundreds of millions for emissions credits

Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit in EuropeChrysler and Tesla aren't known for having much in common. Tesla builds nothing but pure electric cars, with no tailpipes. Chrysler was the first among American car companies to abandon its car lineup and focus on building big, heavy, thirsty SUVs and pickups. That has put Fiat Chrysler in a bind with emissions regulators around the world, where...

German prosecutors find collusion between automakers over diesel emissions

Exhaust emissions from tailpipe [photo: Simone Ramella, 2005, used under Creative Commons 2.0]The Mueller report may not show collusion between Russia and President Trump's campaign, but European anti-trust regulators say they have found collusion among German automakers to avoid cleaning up tailpipe emissions. On Friday, anti-trust regulators for the European Union charged BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen with colluding to block the...

Recalls of older cars for excess emissions may get more sunlight this year

2012 Jeep CompassEarlier this month, the EPA announced a voluntary recall by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles of nearly 900,000 older vehicles for excessive emissions. The announcement may have raised eyebrows and prompted a few wagging fingers, but it was hardly new; last year automakers recalled more than 5 million vehicles in 85 separate recalls. Now, officials from...

Dieselgate continued: SEC charges VW and its ex-boss with fraud

Volkswagen TDI diesel vehicles owned by Phil Grate and family, Seattle, WashingtonAmazingly, the diesel emissions case against Volkswagen in the U.S. is still gaining steam. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged VW and its former CEO Martin Winterkorn on Thursday with defrauding investors, according to wire-service reports. READ MORE: Gauging VW's progress on second diesel-settlement anniversary (Updated) The charges...

Not just diesel: FCA recalling 860K cars for emissions failure

2014 Dodge AvengerFiat Chrysler has recalled 862,520 gas-powered vehicles after on-road testing showed they might not meet emissions standards. The vehicles to be recalled, including the Dodge Avenger, Caliber, and Journey, and the Chrysler 200 (a twin of the Avenger) spanning from 2011 to 2016, met original EPA laboratory emissions tests, but failed in the kind of...

EPA says fuel economy rose in 2017, but it may be falling again

2019 Honda InsightAn EPA report released Wednesday shows that cars are getting better gas mileage in response to rising fuel economy standards. Yet a roaring economy and low gas prices have put Americans on a truck-buying spree, and the EPA is working to undermine those standards. According to its annual automotive trends report, the average new car reached a...

Senate confirms coal lobbyist Wheeler as EPA head

EPA Acting Administrator Andrew WheelerThe Senate on Thursday confirmed acting EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler to head the agency. Since Wheeler became the acting administrator last July, he has released plans to unwind rising emissions and attendant fuel economy standards enacted under President Obama, and to rescind California's half-century-old authority to set tighter emissions...

Germany fines BMW over diesel emissions

2009 BMW X5 xDrive 35dGerman automakers have been under a microscope when it comes to emissions from their diesel cars, which were formerly bestsellers in Europe. After Daimler, Volkswagen, and German supplier Bosch paid billions in fines and several Audi managers have been arrested over installing diesel-emissions cheat devices, German prosecutors have handed down a...

EPA cuts off fuel-economy talks with California

Freeway, Los Angeles, 2009 (photo by Myriam Thyes via Wikimedia)The Trump administration has ended talks with California aimed at settling their differences over increasing fuel economy and tightening emissions regulations, Reuters reported Thursday, citing an unnamed government official. In August, the EPA, led by Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler, released a proposal to freeze emissions and associated fuel...

Ford investigates its own fuel-economy testing methods

2019 Ford RangerFord announced on Thursday that it opened an investigation into the fuel economy testing it does to receive official EPA ratings and federal certification to sell its vehicles in the U.S. The company plans to start by retesting its 2019 Ranger midsize pickup, after employees raised concerns through Ford's internal reporting channel called Speak...