Researchers say Fiat Chrysler diesel cars bust US emission limits

Washington

FIAT Chrysler diesel vehicles spewed pollution as much as 20 times the legal limit, according to testing by the same researchers who first recorded the excess emissions in Volkswagen AG's diesel cheating scandal.

The revelation from a West Virginia University laboratory sheds new light on the US Justice Department's allegations in a civil lawsuit last month that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV has used illegal "defeat devices", software that helps evade emissions tests. It comes amid growing concerns about the ability of diesel engines to satisfy US emissions limits and the extent to which automakers may be working to navigate around them. The West Virginia University's Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions stopped short of accusing Fiat Chrysler of emissions cheating, but said on-road tests of Jeep Grand Cherokee sport utility vehicles and Ram 1500 pickups revealed nitrogen oxide levels at three to 20 times what is permitted by US.clean-air rules. Nitrogen oxide, or NOx, can cause smog and acid rain.