Show THE VOICE OF BUSINESS For good mileage estimates try fry private enterprise fly liy L L. L Lesher re Ires Chamber ham her of or Commerce of or the United States Government attempts to furnish consumer services often go awry even with the purest of motives A good example is those gasoline ne mileage estimates provided for new cars carsby carsby carsby by the Environmental Protection Agency Practically nobody is happy with them according to a recent article inthe Inthe in inthe the Wall Street Journal And it occurred to me as I read the story that the EPA's experience some valuable lessons lesson 1 1 You cant can't please everybody The EPA tests cars under laboratory conditions not out on the road The test insures a reasonably fair comparison from one car to another but bears little relationship to the actual mileage that will be obtained when driving in the real world Consequently even other federal agencies do not accept EPA's KPA's figures as a measure of probable gasoline consumption ins Ine Department of transportation fran tran discounts them by 11 II percent and the Federal Energy Administration by 14 percent This problem of de facto inflation in the official figures leads hads to the somewhat ludicrous situation of EPA requiring auto manufacturers to post its estimates on new cars while also requiring the manufacturers manufacturers to say that the figures may not b be he reliable guides to the buyers buyer's mileage EPA EIA defends itself by blaming consumers for not understanding how to use the figures it provides This defense reminds me of a manufacturer complaining lo to a government regulator that his product is safe and effective if the thelon lon consumer umer follows directions It is often olten a valid defense which the government often refuses to lo accept 2 People discount inflated claims Government regulators like the Federal Trade Commission Commission Com Corn mission try by various means to ban puffery In advertising It victimizes the consumer they say But surveys and common commonsense commonsense commonsense sense show the consumer to be bea a much more sophisticated animal than the government acknowledges Very few people are so foolish as to lo take lake all advertising literally And now according to lo a government survey the Journal cites ciles 64 percent of us have learned not notto notto notto to believe the EPA's claims either H. H Red Hed tape lape begets red tape EPA is reluctant to adjust its figures to lo more closely approximate approximate approximate ap ap- ap- ap proximate actual mileage because Congress has legislated mandatory mileage t goals I lor for the auto manufacturers manufacturers manufacturers and the goals are arc tied lied to lo lohe the he inflated EPA figures If EPA suddenly lowered its figures the manufacturers would find themselves facing goals nearly impossible to meet Their mileage target would be stated In terms of the theold theold old high EPA figures while the performance of their cars would be measured by the new re realistic EPA figures 4 4 Private enterprise provides what people really want I know of at al least seven national magazines that offer their readers test lest reports on new cars including gas mileage figures There are probably a alot alot alot lot more than seven These tests are arc conducted on the he road under conditions designed to lo approximate the actual experience experience experience ex ex- ex- ex of the average driver They dont don't cost the taxpayer a cent They are available to lo the consumer without charge at a public library or for lor the nominal price of the magazine at a newsstand |