CHICAGO, April 26 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into Ford's emissions testing practices, the automaker said Friday.
Ford in the Friday regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission wrote that the "potential concern does not involve the use of defeat devices," like those used in the Volkswagen AG emissions scandal.
Ford characterized the Department of Justice investigation as "still in the preliminary stages" but said "we cannot predict the outcome, and we cannot provide assurance that it will not have a material adverse effect on us."
It also said in the filing that it is cooperating with all government agencies in the investigation. The Department of Justice declined to comment on the investigation following media inquiry.
Emissions-tests cheating has been an issue for large automakers in recent years, most notably Volkswagen AG.
Volkswagen paid 14.7 billion U.S. dollars in civil penalties in 2016 after settling a widespread emissions-cheating scandal with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The German auto company was accused of using what are called "defeat devices" that turned on during emissions testing, but not in normal driving.
In January, Fiat Chrysler agreed to pay 800 million dollars in settlement over its use of illegal software to produce false results on emissions tests.
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