The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] filed a civil complaint [text, PDF] on Tuesday against Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles NV alleging that the company illegally used computer software to bypass emissions tests in nearly 104,000 of the company’s diesel cars. The complaint alleges that vehicles contain defeat devices and that the devices were not disclosed to regulators during the certification application process. The suit goes on to claim that the undisclosed software functions cause the vehicles’ emission control systems to perform differently [DOJ press release] and less effectively, during certain normal driving conditions than on federal emission tests, resulting in increased emissions of harmful air pollutants.

Based upon this investigation, the complaint alleges that one or more of these undisclosed software features, alone or in combination with the others, renders inoperative, bypasses and/or defeats the vehicles’ emission control systems, which were installed to make the vehicles comply with Clean Air Act emission standards. In short, the complaint now alleges that the vehicles contain defeat devices.

Fiat-Chrysler responded to the complaint [press release] by saying they were “disappointed” and that, “[t]he Company intends to defend itself vigorously, particularly against any claims that the Company engaged in any deliberate scheme to install defeat devices to cheat U.S. emissions tests.”

This suit comes on the heels of the Volkswagen (VW) scandal where it was leaked that VW had intentionally circumvented emissions tests through installing technology to determine when emissions testing would take place and alter the cars’ emissions during inspections. It was found that the practice took place for at least six years. Earlier this month, the US District Court of Northern California gave final approval on VW’s settlement. The settlement [Reuters report] requires VW to pay at least $1.22 billion to buy back or fix 80,000 3.0-liter vehicles. Owners of the vehicles will receive between $7,000 and $16,000 from Volkswagen to fix the cars if the emissions remedies are approved. VW pleaded guilty [JURIST report] earlier in March per the agreement. In December the EU decided to take action [JURIST report] against seven member states over the emissions scandal. A US judge approved [JURIST report] a $14.7 billion settlement in October between VW and the US Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the state of California and car owners who filed a class action lawsuit over the company’s emissions scandal. In September the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission sued [JURIST report] VW and its local subsidiary for misleading customers.