Senior Fiat Chrysler Manager Charged in EcoDiesel Affair

A senior manager who led the team of diesel engineers behind Fiat Chrysler’s maligned EcoDiesel V6 has been indicted by a grand jury on charges of conspiracy to mislead U.S. regulators and the public.

Following an investigation by the Department of Justice, Emanuele Palma, FCA’s senior manager of diesel driveability and emissions, faces multiple charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S., wire fraud, and violation of the Clean Air Act. He’s also accused of lying to the FBI and Environmental Protection Agency investigators.

All of this stems from the EPA-led outcry over auxiliary emissions control devices found on the company’s previous-generation 3.0-liter diesel truck engine.

“Emanuele Palma is alleged to have lied to the EPA, impeding its mission,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider of the Eastern District of Michigan in a DOJ release. “The charges announced today are serious ones, and reflect my office’s commitment to preserving the integrity of the American regulatory system.”

Susan Bodine, EPA Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said Palma “is alleged to have knowingly misled EPA regulators to cover up illegal emissions control software installed in certain Fiat Chrysler diesel vehicles,” adding, “We are prepared to use our criminal authorities when faced with allegations of lying and cheating to evade U.S. emissions standards.”

In early 2017, the EPA launched a broadside against FCA, claiming its EcoDiesel models contained emissions control devices that were never brought to the agency’s attention. The salvo brought sales of Ram 1500 and Jeep Grand Cherokee EcoDiesels to a halt, with FCA forced to recall 104,000 vehicles in order to bring their engines into compliance. A new, more powerful, and legal EcoDiesel will be on offer for 2020.

In a settlement reached last year, FCA paid out $185 million for the recall and fix program, $311 million to cover civil penalties, and $19 million for environmental mitigation efforts. The settlement did not, however, allow FCA to sidestep any criminal liability.

From the DOJ:

As alleged in the indictment, Palma led a team of engineers in the United States responsible for developing and calibrating the 3.0-liter diesel engine used in certain FCA diesel vehicles. Palma supervised the calibration of several software features in the vehicles’ emissions control systems to meet emissions standards for nitrogen oxides (NOx), a family of poisonous gases that are formed when diesel fuels are burned at high temperatures.

The indictment alleges that Palma and his co-conspirators purposefully calibrated the emissions control functions to produce lower NOx emissions under conditions when the subject vehicles would be undergoing testing on the federal test procedures or driving “cycles,” and higher NOx emissions under conditions when the subject vehicles would be driven in the real world.

The emissions manipulation was performed, according to the DOJ, to make the engine “more attractive to FCA’s potential customers, i.e., by increasing fuel economy and reducing the frequency of a required emissions control system service interval, rather than to maximize the reduction of NOx emissions.”

Palma’s co-conspirators have not been charged or named.

[Image: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]