WASHINGTON (Dec. 14) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is requiring new fuel economy stickers for passenger vehicles, beginning with the 2008 model year.
The new stickers are based on revised methods of calculating miles per gallon, including such real-world factors as high speeds, aggressive acceleration, air conditioning use and driving in cold temperatures. Besides giving flat MPG estimates as is currently done, the new stickers will also list the expected range of MPG performance.
Under current fuel economy calculations, which have not been revised since 1984, MPG estimates are based solely on two laboratory tests.