Study Finds Consumers Support 54.5 MPG CAFE

Despite the recent decline in fuel prices, American motorists still want significantly higher fuel economy from the cars and trucks they buy, according to a new study that found nearly nine in ten of those surveyed want the U.S. to reduce oil consumption while three in four support a proposed increase in the federal mileage standard to 54.5 mpg.

The new report by the Consumer Federation of America was not-so-coincidentally released just before the government is set to finalize a major — and still-controversial – increase in the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standard. The Obama Administration says it plans to nearly double mandated mileage by 2025.

"The 54.5 mpg by 2025 standard will be one of the most important consumer protection measures to be adopted in decades," said Mark Cooper, Director of Research for CFA, an association of nearly three hundred nonprofit consumer advocacy organizations across the country.

"Record spending on gasoline for American families, combined with consumer demand for better mileage and a broad political consensus over higher national standards, are driving faster improvements in fuel economy than at any time since the oil price shocks of the 1970s," added Cooper.

Separately, research by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) finds that the average new vehicle sold this year is delivering about seventeen percent better mileage than comparable products sold when the monthly survey began in October 2007.

But UMTRI data also show that after reaching an all-time peak in April of this year – at the same time fuel prices hit their most recent peak – the fuel economy average has fallen by several tenths of a mile per gallon. That reflects a modest shift back to less efficient products, according to researchers – but that may also be driven, in part, by reviving demand for full-size pickups and other work trucks as the economy recovers.

Even then, fuel economy has been rising in all segments of the market, proponents of the CAFE increase note. Ford, for example, now sells more higher-mileage V-6s than traditional V-8s for its F-Series pickups.

According to a CFA poll of 1,000 adults – with a potential sampling error of plus or minus three percent:

Eighty-eight percent said the U.S. should reduce oil consumption
Those who said that is a "very important" goal want to get at least 5 mpg more fuel economy from their next vehicle
Seventy-four percent said the new 54.5 mpg CAFE standards are a good idea
Significantly, sixty-six percent said they’d support the higher standards even if that meant higher sticker prices

While many manufacturers have debated the merits of boosting CAFE to 54.5 mpg there was a generally broad sign-off on the compromise proposal – which originally saw the government pushing for mileage numbers well in excess of sixty mpg. That is no surprise, proponents contend since most makers now find through their own surveys that fuel economy has become the single most important factor for American car buyers.