WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) – General Motors will pay nearly $146 million in fines to the federal government because 5.9 million of its older vehicles did not meet emissions and fuel economy standards.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement Friday that certain GM vehicles from the 2012 through 2018 model years do not comply with federal fuel economy requirements.
The penalty came after the Environmental Protection Agency said tests showed GM’s pickup trucks and SUVs produced 10% more carbon dioxide on average than GM’s initial compliance tests claimed.
The EPA said the vehicle will remain on the road and cannot be repaired. The average GM vehicle consumes at least 10% more fuel than the number on the window sticker says, but the company doesn’t have to reduce the miles per gallon on the sticker, the EPA said.
“Our investigations have brought accountability and support to important programs that reduce air pollution and protect communities across the country,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan.
GM said in a statement that it complies with all regulations on pollution and mileage certificates of its vehicles. The company said it has not admitted wrongdoing or noncompliance with the Clean Air Act.
The problem stems from changes to testing procedures the EPA implemented in 2016, GM spokesman Bill Grotz said.
Owners don’t have to take action because there is no defect in the vehicle, Grotz said.
“We believe this voluntary action is the best course of action to resolve this outstanding issue with the federal government,” he said.
The enforcement actions include about 4.6 million pickups and full-size SUVs and about 1.3 million midsize SUVs, the EPA said. Affected models include the Chevy Tahoe, Cadillac Escalade and Chevy Silverado. About 40 variations of GM vehicles are covered.
GM will be forced to give up credits used to ensure that the manufacturer’s greenhouse gas emissions are below the fleet standards for emissions that apply to that model year, the EPA said. In a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, GM said it expects the total cost to resolve the issue will be $490 million.
Because GM agreed to address the excess emissions, the EPA said it did not need to make a formal ruling on the reasons for the excess pollution.
But David Cooke, senior vehicle analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists, questioned how GM could not have known that pollution exceeded initial tests by more than 10% because the problem was spread across multiple vehicles. “You don’t just make a rounding error of more than 10%,” he said.
Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Transportation Campaign for the environmental group the Center for Biological Diversity, said GM’s violation “shows why automakers can’t be trusted to protect air and health, and why we need strong pollution rules. Supreme Court, watch out!”
In similar pollution cases in the past, automakers were fined under the Clean Air Act for those violations, and the Justice Department usually got involved, Cooke said. Hyundai and Kia, for example, are facing Justice Department action in similar cases.
The Justice Department declined to comment, and GM said the settlement resolves all government claims.
Cooke said GM owners could sue the company for getting lower-than-advertised gas mileage.
In 2014, Hyundai and Kia entered into a settlement requiring them to pay $100 million in civil penalties to end a two-year investigation into excessive gas mileage on the window stickers of 1.2 million vehicles.
Affiliated Korean automakers have denied allegations that they broke the law. Hyundai blames the inflated mileage on an honest misinterpretation of the EPA’s complex rules governing testing.
In 2015, Volkswagen admitted to deliberately stealing nearly half a million cars to beat US smog tests.
The German company admitted it deliberately installed software programmed to “beat” emissions tests, allowing cars to drive more forcefully on the road while emitting up to 40 times the legal pollution limit. The scandal cost Volkswagen more than $30 billion in fines and settlements and saw two US executives sent to prison.
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Krishna reported from Detroit.