Word: epa
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finally getting around to tackling a problem that has irked discerning car buyers for decades. Since the 1970s, any new car or truck sold in the U.S. has been required to carry a label that details both the price and the estimated mileage the vehicle will get in city and highway driving. Consumers and environmentalists, however, have criticized the practice, saying the mileage figures on the EPA sticker don't bear any resemblance to the mileage motorists actually achieve in real-world driving...
...problem was brought to a head in the past couple of years by drivers of new hybrid vehicles who complained to the EPA their vehicles were getting significantly lower mileage than their fuel-economy stickers indicated they would. Faced with a growing chorus of complaints, the EPA reacted by holding hearings last winter and collecting more than 3,000 comments from manufacturers, consumers and environmentalists. This week the EPA announced it was changing how it determines the miles-per-gallon estimates that appear on new vehicle window stickers...
...standards will take effect in September 2007 for model year 2008 vehicles. The new rules may trim the city-driving mileage estimates of some vehicles by as much as 12%, EPA officials acknowledge. "EPA's new fuel economy sticker ensures American motorists won't be stuck with higher-than-anticipated charges at the pump," says EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. "Consumers can get more bang for their buck by considering fuel use while shopping for cars and trucks - saving money on refueling costs while helping protect our environment...
...Hybrids will be hit hardest because the new test eliminates some of the all-electric driving that helped them produce impressive results under the present system, the EPA conceded...
...EPA has relied on data from two laboratory tests designed in 1984 to determine the city and highway fuel economy estimates on the stickers - even while real-world driving conditions across the U.S. changed over the past 22 years. The new calculations will include factors such as high speeds, aggressive acceleration, stop-and-go traffic, the use of air conditioning (which increases fuel consumption), as well driving in cold weather, which also reduces mileage...