1. What is your group all about?
2. Can I still join your effort if I drive an SUV?
3. If it's not a restaurant, what does "CAFE" mean?
4. What are hybrid-electric vehicles anyway?
5. Aren’t automakers working on more fuel-efficient vehicles?
6. The automakers have said that it’s too expensive to make highly fuel-efficient cars, and that if they are forced to, the cars will be lighter, less safe, and more expensive to buy. Is this true?
7. Apart from saving money, why else should I care about fuel efficiency?

1. What is your group all about?

On March 13, 2002, US Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Md) successfully argued on the Senate floor that fuel economy standards should not be raised because “soccer moms” do not want to give up their SUVs. In response, a small group of people (mostly moms, “soccer” and otherwise) who know that it's possible to have safe, family-friendly and fuel-efficient cars, formed Don’t Be Fueled! Mothers for Clean and Safe Vehicles. Our goal is to put consumer pressure on automakers to expand their offerings of clean and safe vehicles suitable for families. We also want to educate the public, especially parents, about the environmental and safety issues with the current crop of vehicles, and about the importance of making wise vehicle choices.
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2. Can I still join your effort if I drive an SUV?

Absolutely. Even though we would rather be getting better mileage, many of us drive SUVs because we can’t find vehicles that are both fuel-efficient and large enough to haul a large family and all its gear. The auto industry has an array of fuel-saving technologies that could be used to make cars that are as large as the 13-mpg Suburban, but get 40 mpg. (For an interesting website designed specifically for SUV owners, visit www.bettersuv.org.)
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3. If it's not a restaurant, what does "CAFE" mean?

CAFE (pronounced just like the restaurant) is the acronym used by the auto industry for Corporate Average Fuel Economy. Every automaker selling vehicles in the US has to meet an average of 27.5 mpg for all cars sold and 20.7 mpg for all "light trucks" (SUVs, minivans and pickup trucks up to 8,500 lbs). The light truck standard will be increased to 22.2 mpg by the 2007 Model Year. Failure to meet the standards results in fines, which some automakers simply pay as a cost of doing business. The CAFE program also contains loopholes, such as a large "flex-fuel" program, exempting trucks that can run on ethanol, but almost never do.

Are you wondering why your car gets nowhere near 27.5 mpg and you don't know of any SUV that gets over 20? It's because just for calculating CAFE compliance the government allows the automakers to inflate their vehicles' fuel efficiency ratings by using an unrealistic lab test. Oh, and super-large pickups and SUVs—like the Ford F-250 pickup and its SUV cousin, the Excursion, and GM's Hummer H2—are exempt from CAFE altogether because they weigh more than 8,500 lbs.
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4. What are hybrid-electric vehicles anyway?

They are vehicles powered by a combination gasoline engine and electric motor. A hybrid charges itself as it drives (so you don’t need to plug it in) making the gasoline that it uses last longer. In many ways hybrids are just like regular cars. You don’t notice any difference while driving. You will, however, notice a change at the gas pump. Hybrids cut your gasoline consumption in half—and reduce emissions by up to 90 percent. We love the hybrid powertrain because, if widely adopted, it has the potential to deliver a huge improvement in fuel efficiency in one generation of vehicles. But that's a big "if." Stay tuned.
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5. Aren’t automakers working on more fuel-efficient vehicles?

So they say, but despite all the publicity, no major automaker has specific plans to increase the fuel efficiency of its whole fleet. The Detroit automakers have always treated federal CAFE standards as a ceiling, not a floor. This means for every fuel-efficient car Detroit sells, it's selling a big gas guzzler somewhere else that's wiping out the environmental benefits of that first car. A few years ago, Ford committed to a voluntary increase of 25% in the fuel efficiency of its SUV fleet, then recently reneged on that promise, blaming consumers for selecting too many of its less-efficient models. (Instead, Ford could have shown leadership by putting advanced fuel-saving technologies into its heaviest SUVs.)

In the absence of CAFE increases for nearly two decades, the automakers have squandered every opportunity to improve fuel economy, opting instead to increase horsepower. This trend will continue without more pressure from the government and from consumers. The Don’t Be Fueled! campaign was formed to pressure automakers to make fuel efficiency a priority, to support efforts in the political arena to increase fuel economy standards and to promote fuel-efficient vehicles.
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6. The automakers have said that it’s too expensive to make highly fuel-efficient cars, and that if they are forced to, the cars will be lighter, less safe, and more expensive to buy. Is this true?

No. As it stands, truck-based SUVs have been the cash cows of the auto industry for the past decade because they are cheap to produce and are sold at a premium. Most are built on pick-up truck chassis, use unsophisticated truck engines and lack safety features present in cars, features that would add to the cost.

Auto manufacturers have a sophisticated lobbying and public relations apparatus for fighting nearly all proposals that would improve fuel economy or vehicle safety. The industry fought the addition of seat belts and air bags as well. For more detail on auto industry economics and the politics of fuel efficiency, auto safety, and SUVs, we recommend High and Mighty: SUVs: The World's Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way by New York Times writer Keith Bradsher. Public Affairs, 2002.
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7. Apart from saving money, why else should I care about fuel efficiency?

Three big reasons:

• Air Pollution. Vehicle emissions pollute the air. This is especially true of light trucks, which are allowed to emit up to 5.5 times the ozone-precursor pollutants that passenger cars are allowed to emit. Despite three decades of efforts to clean up the air, California now has six of the ten most ozone-polluted counties in the nation, and most of this pollution is from vehicles. Asthma is nearly epidemic in these and other California counties. The most direct way to reduce pollution from vehicles is to reduce the amount of fuel they consume. Also, the refining and distribution of petroleum fuel is the leading source of toxic and cancer-causing air pollution in urban areas. If the trend toward ever-more fuel consumption goes unchecked, refineries will have to expand and/or new ones will have to be built.

• Global warming. Corporate and governmental denials and related spin campaigns have failed to undermine the growing consensus of credible scientific evidence that human activities are increasing the earth's atmospheric temperatures and have already warmed the oceans, with potentially drastic and inherently unforeseeable consequences for future generations.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), "Burning fossil fuels such as gasoline or diesel adds greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, to the earth's atmosphere. Greenhouse gases trap heat and thus warm the earth . . . . Vehicles with lower fuel economy burn more fuel, creating more carbon dioxide. Every gallon of gasoline your vehicle burns puts 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. You can reduce your contribution to global warming by choosing a vehicle with higher fuel economy." Model Year 2003 Fuel Economy Guide, p. 3. www.fueleconomy.gov.

• National security. The US owns about two percent of the world's oil reserves and consumes 25% of the world's petroleum output; meanwhile, 60-70% of the world's oil is in the Middle East. Unless America reduces its consumption of petroleum drastically in the years to come, our children and grandchildren can look forward to decades of foreign policy maneuvering designed to ensure America's continued access to oil fields controlled by some of the world's most anti-democratic, retrogressive and misogynistic regimes. But don't take our word for it—and don't believe the political rhetoric around this issue. Look at beautiful maps of the world's energy supplies for yourself.
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