"Legal Cancellation of Fiat Diesel Vehicle Emission Certification Due to Illegal Manipulation"

Central Administrative Appeals Commission of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Dismisses Administrative Appeal
"Designed to Reduce Emission Control Device Performance After Emission Certification Test"

The French automobile company Fiat Chrysler merged with the Peugeot Citro?n Group (PSA) in October last year. (Photo by Reuters)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The French automobile company Fiat Chrysler has been found by an administrative adjudication decision to have designed parts so that the emission reduction device operates normally during vehicle emission certification tests but later reduces performance, which should be regarded as illegal manipulation of emissions.

The Central Administrative Adjudication Committee under the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced on the 23rd that it dismissed the administrative adjudication request by importer and distributor Company A, which claimed that the cancellation of emission certification for Fiat diesel vehicles Jeep Renegade and Fiat 500X was unlawful.

Company A, which imports and sells Fiat vehicles, had obtained emission certification for two diesel vehicle models from a professional certification agency in March 2015 and sold them domestically.

Subsequently, the certification agency revoked the certification for the vehicles, citing that unlike during the certification test, the emission reduction device's operation rate was lowered or stopped during actual driving, indicating that illegal emission manipulation was arbitrarily set.

The Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) device recirculates part of the exhaust gas back into the combustion chamber to lower combustion temperature and reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.

The Central Administrative Adjudication Committee pointed out that Company A's emission certification application documents did not include an explanation of the operation method of the reduction device.

Furthermore, it judged that the software's design to reduce the function of the reduction device after 23 minutes from engine start could hardly be seen as an unavoidable measure to prevent engine accidents or damage.

Considering these points comprehensively, the committee explained that the software must be regarded as arbitrarily set.

The committee stated, "Company A installed software arbitrarily set on vehicles that could not originally be certified and obtained certification, which corresponds to obtaining certification by false or other fraudulent means."

Kim Myungseop, Director of the Administrative Adjudication Bureau at the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, said, "This decision will serve as an opportunity to legitimize administrative actions aimed at protecting public health from the increasingly severe air pollution problem."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.