Advertised Fuel Economy Lies Growing Larger
Tim Esterdahl | May 01, 2012 | Comments 3
A recent study done on European cars has confirmed what we already knew, the disparity between advertised and real gas mileage has grown larger over the years. Surprised?
Do we all believe the advertised mileage stickers still? Nope, not really.
Why is Europe concerned with actual mileage? Besides finding out the truth for curiousity, Europe has been implementing greenhouse gas reduction targets for many years. The study looked at CO2 emission to help factor average fuel economy. The study used this factors to counteract what it calls a high tolerance for exploiting loopholes in fuel economy tests. These loopholes occur when automakers run their tests during incredibly optimistic conditions such as flat roads, cold-start testing and the air conditioning turned off. Tundra owners also know that tire size has a real impact on fuel economy.
While the study basically slams automakers, governments and the national road test standards as not being adequate enough for real world testing conditions, there isn’t a direct solution coming out of it.
Interestingly this study’s release is occurring during a time when many automakers are in court defending their claims. One of the most interesting ones is the Honda Civic owner Heather Peters winning a small claims case against Honda. That case is still in litigation.
Besides lawsuits, the rising gas prices are bringing the advertised mpg under increased scrutiny.
What do you think? Are automakers trying to deceive us or is this a larger problem that the government needs to step in to revise the testing?
Related Posts:
Filed Under: Auto News
I doubt that anyone ever believed the posted fuel economy ratings anyway.
Getting the government involved to “save us” is a joke!
Govt will take close to the best conditions and use that as a basis. 80% of the population don’t drive that way and conditions aren’t close. Fortunately where I’m at I’m near the top of the findings. So I do get what EPA states. Then if we drive yesteryear at 55mph you would see a big increase in mpg’s for each vehicle. Let’s look at the real thing, do we Americans really want to get mpg’s or get to grandma’s house in a hurry. I’m just glad everything still works at 135k miles. Outlasted all other trucks so far in mileage. July makes most years I own the same truck.
Mickey, have to agree with you. I have had good luck with my Tundra, gas milage pretty close to sticker. A problem in my area also is the fact that they have been cutting ethenol into our gas, around 10 to 15%. When they did this my wife’s Prius lost about 5 to 7 MPG. Ethenol doesn’t have the same BTU content as gas, so you get less power per gallon.
That is also why I think the flex-fuel vehicles are a joke, when you use these fuels you mpg goes down. They never mention that, only the cheaper price of fuel. But is it really cheaper when you get less energy?