Cheat the New Fuel Economy Rules

In NASCAR it’s called "gettin' competitive." In research and development groups, it's termed “innovation” or “disruptive technology.” In sports they say, “That’s the way the game is played,” until the official calls a penalty. The self-righteous call it “cheating,” unless they’re doing it themselves. To meet the new 35.5-miles per gallon Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard, engineers at car companies must do something similar—come up with technological breakthroughs and push the gray areas of the regulations, perhaps to the breaking point. As in racing, sports and politics, it’s not cheating unless you get caught.

It’s not cheating unless you get caught.
The Energy Independence and Security Act, passed in 2007 as part of the Democrats’ 100-Hour Plan, and supercharged by President Obama’s 2009 executive order, raises CAFE standards from 27.5 mpg to 35.5 mpg by 2016.


Both engineers and lawyers are studying the proposed details of the new regulations and testing procedures. (This would be a good time to be an engineer with a law degree.) I’m neither an engineer nor an attorney, but I was a rulebook-reading racer. I read the regulations the way W.C. Fields, a comedian from the 1920s and 1930s, is said to have read the Bible: To look for loopholes. By carefully reading the regulations, I helped our team score a victory in a 24-hour race. A disappointing third-overall finish became a praiseworthy class win by entering our two cars in different classes. With another so-called showroom stock car, we discovered that 1) the front-drive car went 1.5 seconds per lap faster with the front anti-roll (aka sway) bar disconnected and 2) the tech inspectors never made us fix its “broken” link. (“Those damn links break every race!”)


I set out to perform a similar analysis of the 2016 CAFE regulations. However, the rules weren’t even in loose-leaf-binder form. So I poured over “requests for input,” proposals, older regulations and other eye-glazing, mind-numbing bureaucratese. My staff-engineering student (aka my son) couldn’t explain the formula to determine CAFE, which is chock full of “N sub-1 or -2”, sigma signs, and something called the “harmonic mean.” (Strangely, harmonic mean has nothing to do with Bob Dylan’s early work.)

If the government wants to keep something secret, it should try to explain it.
Also, I discovered that the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fuel-mileage numbers found on car window stickers and quoted in new-car reviews may or may not be what’s used to calculate CAFE. A long phone conversation with a representative from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the group that sets CAFE standards, only muddied my understanding: If the government wants to keep something secret, it should try to explain it.


I found that manufacturers get credits for equipping their cars with air conditioners, making them capable of using multiple fuels and, likely, being built in the states of senators with the most seniority. If car factories or parts suppliers suddenly locate to West Virginia, Massachusetts, Vermont, Hawaii or Montana, be suspicious. And if they move from West Virginia, Massachusetts or Hawaii, it means Senators Robert Byrd, Ted Kennedy and Dan Inouye have left the Senate.