Ford under criminal investigation in the United States on auto emissions | Business

The US Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into Ford's emissions certification process.

Ford said on Friday that it was cooperating fully with government agencies, becoming the latest automaker to be the subject of an emissions investigation.

However, Ford said the concerns were not related to the use of defeating devices – the cheat software used to deliberately reduce emissions during official testing, at the heart of the "dieselgate" scandal of Volkswagen in 2015.

According to a regulatory filing with Ford, the company voluntarily disclosed what it called a "potential concern" to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Air Resources Board two months ago. Ford said in February that it hired external experts to check its test procedures after its employees voiced their concerns.

The end of the investigation seems to be whether Ford has correctly badessed the "load on the road", or the drag and resistance of its vehicles, and its "slowing down" tests, when a vehicle stops once the power supply is no longer powered.

Modeling can significantly change certified emissions: a report by the International Council on Clean Transportation in 2016 found that, in each model badyzed, manufacturers underestimated road load and carbon emissions figures. resulted in an average of 7%.

Even if the difference is far less than defeat devices, a fine could be imposed on Ford. He said: "As this case is still in the preliminary stages, we can not predict the outcome and we can not guarantee that it will not have a significant adverse effect on us."

In the United States, the DoJ and the EPA are investigating the possible presence of defeat devices on Mercedes diesel vehicles in the United States and in its Daimler business. The process lasted almost three years.

The lawyers filed a clbad action suit on behalf of Mercedes car owners in US courts, claiming that the vehicles marketed as environmentally friendly were well above the pollution limits.

The EPA said earlier this month that new lawsuits against automakers were "in the making". In January, Fiat Chrysler entered into an $ 800 million deal with the US government and California to resolve claims for defeat devices in its vehicles.

Independent, real-world tests have shown that almost all car manufacturers' diesel cars far exceed official NOx pollution limits.

VW admitted to installing defeat devices to replicate the test system in the 11m cars produced. In the United States, he has agreed to pay more than $ 25 billion in fines, compensation and surrender settlements with homeowners.