EPA, CARB set their sights on Ford

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ford Motor Co. is under investigation by U.S. and California environmental regulators for selling automobiles that fail to detect pollution problems, reports USA Today.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board are testing engine controls that are supposed to detect problems such as misfires and gas vapor leaks. Ford said the problems are not intentional, and will be corrected in its 1999 models, the newspaper said.

Last month, the EPA levied $83.4 million US in fines against six makers of heavy-duty diesel engines in a settlement over what the agency called pollution “defeat devices” programmed into the engines’ electronic controls. The engine manufacturers must also invest nearly $900 million in research and development of engines with improved pollution controls.