This week, a judge overturned a small-claims judgment against American Honda Motor Co. that was won by a car owner who said the automaker misrepresented the gas mileage of her hybrid Civic. Edmunds.com Senior Analyst Bill Visnic offers the following reaction:
“Today’s judgment seems to validate the auto industry’s widely accepted axiom of ‘your mileage may vary’ in the context of what to expect from real-world fuel economy. The driving environment and the actions of the driver have a tremendous influence on fuel economy – an influence that largely is outside the control of auto manufacturers. That’s why fuel economy testing is conducted in a laboratory. Most everyone – including customers – generally acknowledges that although the fuel-economy numbers shown on a new-vehicle window sticker should be theoretically achievable, it’s unrealistic to think of those figures as always attainable.”
Last year Edmunds.com tested seven different vehicles and found that their MPG fuel gauges were 5.5% inaccurate, on average. In fact, Edmunds testing reveals that one such gauge claimed fuel economy 19 percent higher than the actual result. More details on Edmunds.com’s tests can be found at http://www.edmunds.com/
Here is a link to another story Edmunds.com did back in March on why real-world MPG doesn’t match EPA ratings: http://www.edmunds.com/fuel-