WASHINGTON, D.C. — General Motors will pay the federal government nearly $146 million in penalties because 5.9 million older vehicles do not comply with emissions and fuel economy standards.
The penalty comes after the Environmental Protection Agency said its testing showed that GM pickup trucks and SUVs emit over 10% more carbon dioxide on average than GM’s initial compliance testing claimed.
The EPA says the vehicles will remain on the road and cannot be repaired. The GM vehicles, on average, consume at least 10% more fuel than the window sticker numbers say, but the EPA said the company won’t be required to reduce the miles per gallon on the stickers.
“Our investigation has achieved accountability and upholds an important program that’s reducing air pollution and protecting communities across the country,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said.
In a statement, GM said that it complied with all regulations regarding pollution and mileage certification of its vehicles. The company said it is not admitting to any wrongdoing or failing to comply with the Clean Air Act.
GM spokesman Bill Grotz said the problem stems from a 2016 change in testing procedures that the EPA implemented. He said owners don’t have to act because there are no vehicle defects.
“We believe this voluntary action is the best course to resolve the outstanding issues with the federal government,” he said.
The EPA said the enforcement action involves about 4.6 million full-size pickups and SUVs and about 1.3 million midsize SUVs. The affected models include the Chevy Tahoe, Cadillac Escalade and Chevy Silverado. About 40 variations of GM vehicles are covered.
The EPA said GM will be forced to give up credits used to ensure that manufacturers’ greenhouse gas emissions are below the fleet standard for emissions that applies for that model year. In a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, GM said it expects the total cost to resolve the matter to be $490 million.
Because GM agreed to address the excess emissions, the EPA approved making a formal determination regarding the reasons for the excess pollution.
However, David Cooke, senior vehicles analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists, questioned how GM could not know that pollution exceeded the initial test by more than 10% because the problem was so widespread on many different vehicles. “You don’t just make a more than 10% rounding error,” he said.
Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign for the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity, said the violations by GM “show why automakers can’t be trusted to protect our air and health, and why we need strong pollution rules. Supreme Court, take notice!”
In similar pollution cases in the past, automakers have been fined under the Clean Air Act for such violations, and the Justice Department gets typically involved, Cooke said. Hyundai and Kia, for instance, faced Justice Department action in a similar case.
In 2014, Hyundai and Kia entered a settlement in which they paid a $100 million civil penalty to end a two-year investigation into overstated gas mileage on the window stickers of 1.2 million vehicles. The affiliated Korean automakers denied allegations that they violated the law.
In 2015, Volkswagen admitted it intentionally rigged nearly half a million cars to defeat U.S. smog tests.
The German company admitted that it intentionally installed software programmed to “defeat” emissions testing, enabling cars to drive more powerfully on the road while emitting as much as 40 times the legal pollution limit. The scandal cost Volkswagen more than $30 billion in fines and settlements, and two U.S. executives were imprisoned.
