New Car Mileage Estimates Overstated

  • Some federal lawmakers are concerned that the EPA's estimates on different cars' gas milages may be misleading consumers. (Photo courtesy of the National Institutes of Health)

Some federal lawmakers, along with a few environmental and consumers’ groups, want the Environmental Protection Agency to change the way it calculates a vehicle’s miles-per-gallon. They say your actual mileage will probably vary from the EPA’s figures. More from the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Michael Leland:

Transcript

Some federal lawmakers, along with a few environmental and consumers’ groups, want the Environmental Protection Agency to change the way it calculates a vehicle’s miles-per-gallon. They say your actual mileage will probably vary from the EPA’s figures. More from the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Michael Leland:


According to the EPA, my Ford Escort should get 33 miles per gallon. I wish. With the Fuel Efficiency Truth in Advertising Act, Congress could soon force the EPA to revise its fuel economy tests to reflect real-life conditions. David Friedman of the Union of Concerned Scientists is among those who say a change is long overdue. He says the EPA created its current tests years ago.


“You wouldn’t evaluate how a student knows current events based on a test from the early 1970’s. So, it doesn’t make sense to be testing the fuel economy of our cars and trucks based on tests that are 30 years old.”


The EPA says your actual mileage depends on a number of factors, like how you drive and how you maintain your car. It says its carefully controlled lab tests are helpful in comparing one vehicle model to another.


For the GLRC, I’m Michael Leland.

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