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Ford Flex-Fuel Claims Challenged

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

October 13, 2006

Ethanol • Soaring Egg Prices Blamed on Costs of Fuel, Feed, Chicks • Chicken Prices Headed Up, Tyson Warns • Ethanol Gives Consumers Half a Loaf, Bakers Say • Ethanol-Blended Fuel Blamed for Boaters' Problems • Sales of Ethanol-Burning Cars Up 10% • How Green Can Your Drive Get? • Ethanol Producers Say Rising Food Prices Not Their Fault • Ethanol Driving Up Meat Prices, Congress Told • MIT Gas Saver: Ethanol Turbocharger • Ford Flex-Fuel Claims Challenged • Tests Find Ethanol Cleaner But Not Cheaper • Ethanol Lobbying Disclosures Questioned • Ethanol Benefits Questioned • Chrysler to Step Up Flex Fuel Production • Automakers Want More Ethanol Pumps • Ethanol Increases Consumers' Fuel Bills • Ethanol A Waste, Study Concludes • Ethanol Bandwagon Rolls on in the U.S. Senate

The advocacy group Public Citizen has filed a petition with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration claiming that 228,000 2003-2005 model-year Ford Taurus and Mercury Sables should not be labeled and counted as flex-fuel E85 vehicles since "they are not capable of operating on a mixture of alternative fuel and gasoline."

Public Citizen claims that Ford Motor Co. has avoided as much as $135 million in fines by marketing vehicles that are supposed to run on the gas-ethanol mix E85 because the vehicles do not in fact operate on the blend. The group accused Ford of running misleading ads.

Environmental advocacy groups have long complained that automakers get credits to meet federal fuel economy regulations by building flexible-fuel vehicles that are hardly ever filled with E85 because of a lack of the fuel's availability. Ethanol is sold at just 900 of the country's 170,000 pumps.

"Ford is misleading consumers into thinking they are buying efficient and environmentally friendly cars, while taking advantage of a perverse system that rewards car makers for building vehicles that do just the opposite," said Joan Claybrook, President of Public citizen and a former NHTSA administrator.

A spokesperson for Ford rejected the charges.

"There is nothing misleading about our flexible-fuel advertising. FFVs are intended to provide an option for our customers and to give them the flexibility to use E85 where is available. FFVs operate no differently on E85 than they do on gasoline," said Ford Vice President for environmental and safety issues Sue Cischke.

A recent Ford ad said it has "more than 1.5 million ethanol capable and hybrid vehicles on the road today." The claim would not be true if Ford had to subtract the 228,000 vehicles in question from the number manufactured.

Automakers must pay fines based on vehicle sales or use credits from years when their fuel economy surpasses fuel economy standards. By Public Citizen's math, Ford would owe the government $136 million if its ethanol credits are removed.

"We believe Ford wrongly claimed credit for it, and we think the agency ought to investigate it," said Claybrook.

In addition to NHTSA, Public Citizen filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission asking that Ford be barred from marketing E85 vehicles in states with few or no E85 pumps.

Compounding the problem, Ford has received numerous complaints from customers that the Taurus and Sable are unable to operate properly on E-85.

Ford's initial response was to raise questions about the reliability of the fuel source and to urge drivers to switch to gasoline to improve the operation of the vehicle, negating the purpose of the flex-fuel program. Ford has still been unable to fix the operational defect for the Taurus FFVs over the three model years.

Public Citizen was alerted to the Taurus defect by David Buss, a corn farmer from Hastings, Neb., who purchased a Ford vehicle marketed as a flex-fuel vehicle. He also has filed complaints with the FTC and the Nebraska Attorney General, and he has sent Ford a letter demanding a refund for his vehicle.

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