Trump's Rollback of Fuel Economy Standards Could Cost Americans $460 Billion: Consumer Reports

A new analysis from the nonprofit advocacy group Consumer Reports warns that American drivers could lose about $460 billion dollars in fuel savings if the Trump administration implements its proposal to gut federal fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards for passenger cars and light-duty trucks.

“The evidence shows that lowering fuel economy and emissions standards won’t do anything to improve traffic safety, but it will leave Americans stuck with the bill.”
—David Friedman, Consumer Reports

Last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formally announced the administration’s plan to amend Obama-era vehicle standards for model years 2021 through 2026.

Described by critics as “a disastrous wreck for consumers and the planet,” the so-called Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule would freeze federal fuel efficiency standards for automakers at 2020 levels. As Common Dreams reported last week, “the Trump administration’s new proposal would also revoke the power of states—most prominently California—to establish their own more stringent fuel efficiency rules.”

The Consumer Reports study (pdf) out Wednesday, Bloomberg noted, “undermines the administration’s chief talking points in favor of the move.”

“The facts don’t back this rule’s Orwellian name,” David Friedman, vice president of advocacy at Consumer Reports, said in a statement. “The evidence shows that lowering fuel economy and emissions standards won’t do anything to improve traffic safety, but it will leave Americans stuck with the bill.”

“Instead of making a data-driven decision, the agencies instead seem to have been given a predetermined outcome and tried to make the numbers back it,” said Friedman. “They don’t.”

The Consumer Reports study—entitled The Un-SAFE Rule: How a Fuel Economy Rollback Costs Americans Billions in Fuel Savings and Does Not Improve Safety—concludes that the administration’s rollback would have sweeping negative consequences.

The group outlines those consequences in a summary for policymakers (pdf), detailing how the plan “would result in significant setbacks compared to the current standard in three major categories: (1) increased overall oil consumption and fuel costs for consumers, (2) higher vehicle ownership costs (net present value) for consumers, especially SUV and pickup truck owners, and (3) lower auto sales for automakers and dealers. Further, a rollback could harm, but certainly would not improve, highway safety, contrary to the misleading ‘SAFE Rule’ title used for the proposal.”

A chart from the summary document details the anticipated impacts of four rollback scenarios as well as a plan to strengthen fuel economy standards:

“Whether it’s a complete freeze or a partial rollback, weakening Clean Cars standards costs Americans money and increases pollution,” said study co-author Shannon Baker-Branstetter, manager of cars and energy policy at Consumer Reports.