General Motors will pay about $146 million in fines to the federal government because 5.9 million older vehicles don’t meet emissions and fuel economy standards.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement Wednesday that some GM vehicles from model years 2012 to 2018 do not meet federal fuel economy standards.
The fine was imposed after the Environmental Protection Agency said testing found that GM’s pickup trucks and SUVs were emitting more than 10 percent more carbon dioxide, on average, than GM had claimed in its original compliance tests.
The EPA says the vehicles will remain on the road and cannot be repaired.
GM’s cars, on average, use at least 10 percent more fuel than the number shown on their window stickers, but the company is not required to reduce the miles per gallon shown on the stickers, the EPA said.
“Our investigations ensure accountability and preserve important programs that reduce air pollution and protect communities across the country,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said.
GM said in a statement that it complies with all regulations regarding pollution and fuel economy certification of its vehicles.
The company said it did not admit to any wrongdoing or that it violated the Clean Air Act.
GM spokesman Bill Grotz said the problem stemmed from changes in testing procedures implemented by the EPA in 2016.
Grotz said there is nothing defective with the vehicles and owners do not need to take any action.
“We believe this voluntary action is the best course of action to resolve the outstanding issues with the federal government,” he said.
The enforcement action involves about 4.6 million full-size pickup trucks and SUVs, and about 1.3 million midsize SUVs, according to the EPA.
Affected models include the Chevrolet Tahoe, Cadillac Escalade and Chevrolet Silverado, covering about 40 different GM vehicles.
According to the EPA, GM will be forced to give up credits that were used to ensure that manufacturers’ greenhouse gas emissions were below applicable vehicle emissions standards for that model year.
GM said in a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects the total cost of resolving the issues to be $490 million.
The EPA said it did not have to make a formal determination about the cause of the excess pollution because GM agreed to address the excess emissions.
But David Cook, a senior auto analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, questioned how GM could have failed to realize that contamination was 10 percent or more higher than initial testing suggested, given the problem was widespread across a range of vehicles.
“There will be no rounding errors of more than 10 percent,” he said.
Dan Becker, Safe Climate Transportation Campaign director at the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity, said GM’s violation “shows why automakers cannot be trusted to protect our air and health, and why we need tough pollution limits. Supreme Court take notice!”
Cook said there have been similar pollution cases in the past, but automakers have been fined for such violations under the Clean Air Act, which typically involves the Department of Justice getting involved.
Hyundai and Kia, for example, faced Justice Department action in similar cases.
The Justice Department declined to comment, but GM said the settlement resolved all of the government’s claims.
Cook said GM owners may also sue the company for getting worse fuel economy than advertised.
In 2014, Hyundai and Kia settled a $100 million civil penalty to end a two-year investigation into inflated fuel economy figures on the window stickers of 1.2 million vehicles.
The Korean automakers under its umbrella have denied the allegations of violating the law.
Hyundai argued that the inflated fuel economy figures were the result of an honest misunderstanding of complex EPA testing rules.
In 2015, Volkswagen admitted to intentionally modifying about 500,000 vehicles to circumvent US emissions regulations.
The German company admitted to knowingly installing software programmed to “circumvent” emissions tests, allowing its cars to be more powerful and drive on roads while emitting up to 40 times the legal emissions limit.
The scandal has cost Volkswagen more than $30 billion in fines and settlements and sent two U.S. executives to prison.
