You might not know it, but Hyundai is currently being sued by one of its Elantra customers for allegedly misleading mileage ads, while Honda, not a long time ago, won an appeal against a Civic Hybrid owner who claimed she didn’t get the fuel economy promised by the automaker.
We’re not trying to take sides here, but sometimes – if not always – automakers exaggerate their mileage figures which leads to a lot of controversy.
“Your mileage may vary” is a disclaimer we’ve all read, and it’s no lie because even the slightest factors can affect your car’s mileage such as as the speed you drive or the fuel you use; but it’s also no fluke that manufacturers clearly want to put the best figures possible on their products.
In order to accurately measure fuel economy and help motorists correlate the numbers to their driving styles, the US Environmental Protection Agency came up with the three column approach: city, highway and combined ratings.
The data goes through a substantial amount of tweaking to account for such things as the use of air conditioning and other accessories. It’s also had to adapt to technological advances, such as the increased use of battery-based powertrains.
Let’s say a company had the choice to promote the following: a 45 kilometers per American gallon city figure, a 51 kilometers per gallon combined number or the highway-rated 64, well, it’s probably no surprise that most car companies display the highway ratings.
“Federal regulations control the fuel economy ratings posted on vehicles and advertising claims related to those fuel economy ratings,” wrote Judge Dudley Gray II in his verdict, after overturning a claims court judgment that originally went in favor of a Civic Hybrid owner last May.
But, and according to the EPA itself, this is not the correct interpretation of the law. The agency quotes the maximum figures an automaker can use but the makers are legally entitled to lower the figures if they prove inaccurate.
Unless regulators step in, it’s highly likely we’ll continue to see car companies highlight the biggest economy figures – putting the rest in the smallest print.