FCA Will Pay $800 Million to Settle Diesel Cheating Claims

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV has agreed to pay $800 million to settle federal and California civil claims that its diesels used illegal software to evade emission tests.

The deal covers 104,000 of the company’s diesel-powered, 2014-2016 model Ram pickup trucks and Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs.

FCA will pay $311 million in penalties to regulators, $280 million for compensation payments to affected owners worth an average $2,800, $105 million for extended warranties on the targeted engines, $73 million for state-level civil penalties and $34 million to California to mitigate the effect of the excess emissions.

Separately, Robert Bosch GmbH, which supplied the software involved, has agreed to pay $28 million in compensation to owners and $104 million to settle claims by 47 U.S. states that its software enabled the cheating.

FCA continues to assert that it didn’t knowingly try to evade emission rules by failing to notify regulators about the software. The company also says the settlement doesn’t contain any finding or admission that the company violated emission standards.

But the Justice Dept. says today’s agreement doesn’t affect the department’s continuing investigation into possible criminal charges against FCA. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting its own probe of the issue.