UK seeks details on Fiat Chrysler diesel emission accusations

Britain said it was urgently seeking information from the US Environmental Protection Agency after the agency accused carmaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles of illegally using hidden software to allow excess diesel emissions to go undetected.

“We are urgently seeking further information from the US Environmental Protection Agency . . . and will also be seeking information from the manufacturer regarding vehicles in the UK market,” a spokesman at the British Department for Transport said on Friday.

Fiat Chrysler chief executive Sergio Marchionne angrily rejected the allegations on Thursday, saying that there had been no wrongdoing and that the company never attempted to create software to cheat emissions rules by detecting when the vehicle was in test mode.