After VW, the French Public Prosecutor’s Office requested the opening of a new case for aggravated fraud against two manufacturers of the Stellantis group, Peugeot and Citroën, suspected of having sold vehicles equipped with software programs that deceive pollution tests, according to a source close to the case.
According to the accusation from the Public Prosecutor’s Office dated June 25, which “AFP” accessed, the two manufacturers are accused of having sold vehicles “specially calibrated” to “ensure compliance with the regulatory standard regarding nitrogen oxide emissions, solely under the conditions of the homologation test”.
“Under normal driving conditions (…), the calibration used led to a significant deterioration in the functioning of the pollution control devices, resulting in the regulatory threshold for nitrogen oxide emissions being frequently exceeded”, added the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office considers the investigating judge, who has the final decision on whether or not to hold a trial, to deem that these facts have made the use of the vehicles “dangerous to health”, “notably promoting the emergence of respiratory diseases in humans”, which constitutes an aggravating circumstance.
Remember that Peugeot and Citroën were accused, respectively, on June 9 and 10, 2021, regarding the sale of Euro 5 diesel vehicles in France, between 2009 and 2015. The two companies are still appealing to the Paris Court of Appeal regarding this case.
Already in March, the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office had requested a similar case against the German manufacturer VW, accusing the brand of having equipped around one million vehicles with software that artificially reduced their pollutant emissions during certification tests.
