Fuel-economy claims need a reality check.(automobiles fuel economy standards)

With the average price of gasoline approaching record highs--$2.37 a gallon in August, up about 49 cents a gallon from a year ago--consumers more than ever need accurate information on the fuel economy of the cars and trucks they buy For years, CONSUMER REPORTS readers have told us they are not achieving the fuel economy promised by automakers. We do our own real-world testing, and we checked the accuracy of claimed fuel economy of vehicles for model years 2000 to 2006 (see report, page 20). Our investigation shows that the mileage promised on car stickers is very often inflated, sometimes by as much as 50 percent.

Who's responsible for such glaring disparities? Primarily Congress and the automakers. Congress hasn't allowed the Environmental Protection Agency to update its testing protocol since the 1970s. Automakers are allowed to test their vehicles under optimal conditions and may use hand-built prototypes to get the best mileage in the test. Our investigation found that the EPA sticker overpromised expected city or highway fuel economy on 90 percent of the models we tested.

What can be done to ensure that promised fuel economy better reflects reality? In the past two years, Consumers Union, publisher of CONSUMER REPORTS, has urged the EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to overhaul their testing and classification protocols.

In April 2004, for example, CU asked NHTSA to stop classifying sport-utility vehicles and minivans--which are built and sold to carry passengers--as light trucks, which are permitted to get far lower mpg than vehicles sold as cars: 21.6 mpg for model-year 2006 vs. the 27.5 mpg standard for cars. We recommended that cars, SUVs, and minivans be reclassified as light passenger vehicles, weighing 4,000 pounds or less, and heavy passenger vehicles, weighing more than that. NHTSA ...