Consumers Get “Extreme Workover” From Auto Lobbyists; Parody of Popular, Automaker-Sponsored Show Urges Action to Stop Industry Tampering of Fuel Economy Laws

November 08, 2005 — By Union of Concerned Scientists

WASHINGTON — Forget plastic surgery or renovating your home. How about an “Extreme Auto Makeover” so your vehicle goes a lot farther on a tank of gas?

A new online parody from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) kicks off a campaign countering a flawed Bush administration proposal to revamp fuel economy standards. The animation — which spoofs the popular ABC reality show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” — asks players to work with a team of vehicle engineers to design the fuel-efficient car of your dreams — but will auto lobbyist “Wendell” let them? It then allows players to send a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration during the public comment period on the fuel economy proposal.

“For too long the government has allowed auto industry lobbyists to tamper with fuel economy laws, leaving consumers to pay the price at the pump,” said David Friedman, research director of the Clean Vehicles Program at UCS. “The public doesn’t want more gas-guzzling loopholes. People want an extreme makeover on their auto’s fuel economy so they can get the fuel-efficient car, pickup, SUV and minivan choices we should have had long ago.”

The tongue-in-cheek animation focuses on UCS’s blueprint for a safer, cleaner SUV - known as the “Guardian”. The SUV model utilizes cost-effective technologies that automakers should be using now to make vehicles more fuel efficient while improving safety and maintaining performance. The baseline Guardian would save consumers over $5,000 on gasoline and would pay for itself in just over a year at today’s gasoline prices. Recently featured in the pages of Time and BusinessWeek, the Guardian blueprint is based on improvements to the Explorer SUV, a vehicle produced by Ford Motor Company, a chief sponsor of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

The administration proposal on fuel economy regulations continues to exempt the most gas-thirsty segment of the market — vehicles weighing more than 8,500 pounds, such as the Hummer H2, the Dodge Ram 2500 and the now defunct Ford Excursion — from any standards at all. This leaves farmers, contractors and other businesses with no options to help them fight high fuel costs. The administration’s plan may also create additional loopholes with a new structure based on vehicle size (the bigger the vehicle, the lower your fuel economy target) that could wipe out the miniscule proposed 1.8-mpg increase over time. This sets up the potential for automakers to upsize their trucks to take advantage of weaker standards, repeating the erosion that has taken place since fuel economy peaked in 1987 as automakers have shifted from “cars” to “light trucks” with lower fuel economy standards.

To view the animation and take action, visit www.suvsolutions.org on the web.



Contact Info:
Rich Hayes
Media Director
Union of Concerned Scientists
202-331-5437
rhayes@ucsusa.org
www.ucsusa.org



Website : www.ucsusa.org