Automaker Fiat Chrysler will pay about $300 million in case of underreporting of auto emissions in the United States. On Monday, August 1, a federal court in Detroit found him guilty of emissions fraud and sentenced him to pay restitution and three years of probation, the US Department of Justice said.

Thus, the court approved the settlement agreement, which the company, which is part of the international automotive group Stellantis, concluded in June with the US Department of Justice, pleading guilty. US officials have accused Fiat Chrysler of installing software in more than 100,000 diesel vehicles that underestimates exhaust emissions. We are talking about the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram models.

In 2017, the US Department of Justice filed a formal indictment in this case. For its part, the company’s management denied its guilt and any parallels with the earlier scandal surrounding Volkswagen. However, already in 2019, Fiat Chrysler was forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in civil actions in the United States.

“Dieselgate” and multi-million compensation payments

Earlier, a similar scandal broke out in the German automotive industry. The automaker Volkswagen, as a result of investigations initiated by US authorities in September 2015, was forced to admit that it had installed software on several million cars sold worldwide, which allowed it to manipulate tests of environmental standards of engines. “Dieselgate” caused a massive recall of VW products from the US market to weed out technical counterfeits. The company has reached an agreement with US authorities over multibillion-dollar fines and damage payments as part of the resolution to the scandal.

Subsequently, Volkswagen was ordered to pay damages in Germany and other European countries in addition to Australia. In addition, several other automakers, including BMW and Opel, were found guilty of manipulating diesel emissions data.