Letters: Getting the MPG right

Re “Hyundai, Kia overstated gas mileage,” Business, Nov. 3

For years no one took the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s mileage stickers seriously. Then, in 2008, new procedures made these estimates seem at least reasonably in the ballpark for really cautious drivers.

Few knew, however, that the EPA did not perform these tests but rather accepted the manufacturers’ estimates. But the mileage stickers on new cars say “EPA Fuel Economy Estimates,” not “manufacturer’s estimate.”

I would be interested to learn what “procedural errors” by Hyundai and Kia caused them to overstate gas mileage. Oddly, the errors always favor the companies.

Warren Evan Larson

Sunland

How hard is it to determine gas mileage? What procedural errors can cause mistakes? You fill up the tank, you drive, you note the mileage, you refill the tank, you divide the miles by the gallons used. That gives you the mileage.

Brent J. Bennett

Pine Mt. Club, Calif.

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