cadillac chips

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Cadillac chips

Charged with installing computer chips that resulted in emitting excessive amounts of carbon dioxide from their Cadillacs, General Motors (GM) agreed in December 1995 to recall nearly 500,000 late-model Cadillacs and pay nearly $45 million in fines and recall costs. Lawyers for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Justice Departmentcontended that GM knew that the design change would result in pollution problems. Rejecting this claim, GM released a statement saying that the case was ‘‘a matter of interpretation’’ of complex regulations, but that it had
‘‘worked extremely hard to resolve the matter and avoid litigation.’’

According to EPA and Justice Department officials, the $11 million civil penalty was the third largestpenalty in a pollution case, the second largest such penalty under the Clean Air Act, and the largest involving motor vehicle pollution. This was also the first case of a court ordering an automobile recall to reduce pollution rather than to improve safety or dependability.

Government officials said that in 1990 a new computer chip was designed for the engine controls of Cadillac Seville and Devillemodels. This was in response to car owners’ complaints that these carstended to stall when the climate control system was running. The chips injected additional fuel into the engine whenever this system was running. But this resulted in tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide well
in excess of the regulations.

Although the cars are usually driven with the climate control system running, testsused for certifying the meeting of emission standards were conducted when the system was not running. This was standard practice for emission tests throughout the automotive industry.

However, EPA officials argued that under the Clean Air Act, GM should have informed them that the Cadillac’s design was changed in a way that would result in violating pollution standards under normal drivingconditions.

In 1970, the officials said, automobile manufacturers were directed not to get
around testing rules by designing cars that technically pass the tests but that nevertheless cause avoidable pollution. GM’s competitors, the officials contended,
complied with that directive.

A GM spokesperson said that testing emissions with the climate control running was not required because ‘‘it wasnot in the rules, not in the regulations; it’s not in the Clean Air Act.’’ However, claiming that GM discovered the problem in 1991, Justice Department environmental lawyer Thomas P. Carroll objected to GM’s continued inclusion of the chip in the 1992–1995 models: ‘‘They should have gone
back and re-engineered it to improve the emissions.’’


In agreeing to recall the vehicles, GM said it nowhad a way of controlling the stalling problem without increasing pollution. This involves ‘‘new fueling calibrations,’’ GM said, and it ‘‘should have no adverse effect on the driveability of the vehicles involved.’’

What responsibilities did GM engineers have in regard to either causing or resolving the problems with the Cadillac Seville and Deville models?

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CHIPS DELCADILLAC
Acusado por la instalación de chips de computadora que resultó en la emisión de cantidades excesivas de dióxido de carbono de sus Cadillac, General Motors (GM) estuvo de acuerdo en Diciembre de 1995 al revisar casi 500,000 unidades del último modelo Cadillac y pagar cerca de $45 millones en multas y recuperar los costos.
Abogados para la Protección del Medio Ambiente Agencia (EPA) y elDepartamento de Justicia afirmaron que GM sabía que el cambio de diseño se traduciría en problemas de contaminación. Al rechazar esta alegación, GM lanzó una declaración diciendo que el caso era '' una cuestión de interpretación '' de normas complejas, pero que tenía ''trabajarían muy duro para resolver el asunto y evitar litigios.”

De acuerdo con funcionarios del Departamento de la EPA y de...