F Ford Motor Company

By Mike Colias and Stephen Nakrosis 

Ford Motor Co. said Thursday that it would investigate its process for certifying vehicles to meet U.S. fuel-economy standards, after a group of employees raised concerns about the company's testing methods.

The Dearborn, Mich., auto maker has alerted federal regulators to its potential concerns, but the company hasn't determined whether this would result in a revision of its fuel-economy ratings, a Ford spokesman said.

Ford could face federal fines and legal action from customers if its mileage ratings or emissions compliance are found to be faulty. The spokesman declined to say how many vehicles would be affected by the investigation.

The auto maker said it would work with regulators and outside experts to evaluate the emissions-certification process, starting with its recently launched 2019 Ford Ranger compact pickup, to be followed by additional vehicles.

Ford in late October brought in an outside firm to look into concerns raised by employees, the Ford spokesman said. The firm submitted initial findings to Ford, which began an internal investigation in December, he said. That led to the company to communicate the issue to regulators this week.

In a statement Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency said Ford briefed the agency on the issue Wednesday. It said the information Ford disclosed is "too incomplete for EPA to reach any conclusions" and that it would work with the company as the investigation unfolds.

The disclosure comes as Ford Chief Executive Jim Hackett tries to reassure investors that a broad turnaround plan for the company will start gaining traction this year. Mr. Hackett has been under pressure to boost declining profits and articulate a long-term growth strategy for the second-biggest U.S. auto maker by sales.

Over the past decade, a number of large auto companies have taken significant financial hits from fuel-economy and emissions controversies, after either inflating their mileage ratings or intentionally skirting laws governing tailpipe pollution.

The most notable was Volkswagen AG's disclosure in 2015 that it installed so-called defeat devices on nearly 600,000 diesel-powered vehicles to cheat on government emissions tests. The German car maker in 2017 pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the U.S. and has paid more than $20 billion in legal settlements and fines.

On Thursday, Ford said in a statement that "the investigation and potential concerns don't involve the use of defeat devices in our products."

Ford in 2014 lowered the mileage ratings on six models, mostly hybrids and plug-in electric hybrids, after admitting to overstating its vehicles' fuel economy. The company said the overstatements resulted from errors conducted during government-prescribed testing and that it would pay owners as much as $1,050 to compensate for underestimating fuel costs.

In 2012, Kia Motors Corp. and its parent company Hyundai Motor Co. admitted to having overstated fuel-efficiency ratings on about 1.2 million vehicles sold in the U.S. by 1 to 6 miles a gallon. The South Korean auto makers, which blamed the inflated ratings on testing errors, eventually agreed in 2014 to pay nearly $700 million in federal fines and class-action lawsuits.

Ford said it has hired an outside firm to conduct an investigation into the so-called "vehicle road load specifications" used in testing to certify emissions and fuel economy.

Vehicles usually are tested for emissions and fuel economy using a machine called a dynamometer, which is stationary. Testers are required to simulate so-called road load, or the effect of friction from the tires and aerodynamic drag when the vehicle is moving.

Write to Mike Colias at Mike.Colias@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 21, 2019 19:47 ET (00:47 GMT)

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