Ford launches probe into actual emissions of its vehicles
"In September, a handful of employees raised a concern... regarding the analytical modeling that is part of our US fuel economy and emissions compliance process," Kim Pittel, an executive responsible for sustainability, environment and safety engineering, said in a statement released late Thursday.
"We have hired an outside firm to conduct an investigation" into specifications used in testing and "applications to certify emissions and fuel economy," Pittel said.
The statement noted that the issue is not a result of software designed to cheat the testing process to obtain more favorable emissions results, which has been used by other automakers and resulted in billions of dollars in fines.
"The investigation and potential concerns do not involve the use of defeat devices in our products. At this time, there's been no determination that this affects Ford's fuel economy labels or emissions certifications," Pittel said.
Ford says it is unable to estimate the number of vehicles or identify the models potentially affected. Results are expected next week.
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