Ford Issues Fix For Sub-Par Fuel Efficiency

Back in December, Consumer Reports published the results of their fuel economy tests on the new Ford Fusion Hybrid and Ford C-Max Hybrid wagon.  The findings were off by more than could be considered standard variance in fuel economy figures (about 20%).

“In our tests, the Fusion Hybrid delivered 39 mpg overall (6.03 L/100km) and 35 and 41 in city and highway conditions, respectively. For the C-Max Hybrid, we got 37 mpg overall (6.36L/100km), with 35 and 38 for city and highway. These two vehicles have the largest discrepancy between our overall-mpg results and the estimates published by the EPA that we've seen among any current models.”

As a consequence, the EPA soon began its own investigation and released this statement:

“C-Max and Fusion are not going through the same process as Hyundai since the later was a case of incorrect information being submitted by the company. The Ford vehicles are undergoing overall fuel economy testing to allow for a comparison of results.”

Yesterday at a press conference, Ford global product development group vice president Raj Nair finally admitted the vehicles do underperform and said that the company is offering several fixes to address the issue.  The fixes include extending the electric drive range speed to 136 km/h from 100 km/h, optimizing the grille shutter system to improve airflow and cut drag and allowing the engines to warm up quicker to facilitate the engagement of the engine start-stop system.

Nair said these modifications will be carried out free of charge for existing customers and implemented on new vehicles.