New Truck Fuel Economy Standards Will Save Consumers Money

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued new efficiency and emissions standards for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles this week that CFA predicts will save consumers money. “We urged the agencies to set standards that would achieve meaningful fuel economy improvements and significant consumer savings, and we got them,” said CFA Public Affairs Director Jack Gillis.

CFA calculates that the average American family spends more than $1,100 per year on indirect freight truck fuel costs passed on to consumers. That’s almost as much as the average family spends on household electricity. Moreover, according to CFA’s most recent poll on the issue, over 90 percent of Americans understand that the fuel costs of medium- and heavy-duty trucks transporting consumer goods are passed on to them. Nearly three-quarters of respondents support requiring manufacturers to increase the fuel economy of these vehicles.

“The new rules are long-term, technology- and product-neutral, address the needs of consumers and industry, and promote healthy competition that benefits consumers, manufacturers and the economy overall,” said CFA Research Director Mark Cooper. “The trucking industry will benefit. Consumers will save. And the economy will thrive. It’s a win-win-win.”

FIO Issues Auto Insurance “Affordability” Definition

As part of its efforts to study whether auto insurance is affordable and accessible in traditionally underserved communities, the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) released a final definition of insurance affordability last month that will serve as the basis for its research.

FIO will determine affordability using an affordability index calculated by dividing the average annual personal automobile liability premium by the median household income for ZIP Codes identified as being majority-minority or majority-LMI. According to the FIO definition, when average premiums exceed two percent of the median income in lower-income communities and communities of color, that is a clear indication that state insurance departments and policymakers must act to improve affordability and accessibility so that drivers can comply with state insurance mandates.

“CFA applauds FIO for advancing this important issue and will be reviewing the details of the proposal in the coming weeks,” said CFA Director Financial Services Tom Feltner in a press statement. “As part of that review, we will pay particular attention to how data will be collected and provide further comments to ensure the data reflect the actual premiums that residents of lower income communities and communities of color face in the market.  We hope that the result of this effort will be a clearer understanding of the auto insurance market and its affordability or unaffordability in communities around the country.”

“Using this new Affordability Index, insurers, consumers and regulators will have a benchmark for understanding the affordability or unaffordability of state-mandated liability auto insurance in communities around the country.”

Download the CFA factsheet for more information on the FIO definition.

Members of Congress Voice Strong Support for CFPB Arbitration Rule

With the comment period drawing to a close on Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) proposed rule to limit forced arbitration, more than 100 members of the U.S. House and Senate have submitted letters of support. The rules would restore consumers’ right to participate in class action lawsuits when they have been harmed by a consumer financial service provider’s illegal practices.

In a letter organized by Representatives Maxine Waters (D-CA), Hank Johnson (D-GA), and John Conyers (D-MI), 65 Representatives encouraged the CFPB to “proceed quickly” in its rulemaking to remove class action waivers from forced arbitration clauses and noted that by “restricting class actions and class-wide arbitration in consumer contracts, these clauses enable corporations to avoid public scrutiny by precluding access to the courts.”

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senators Al Franken (D-MN), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) also organized a letter with 38 Senate signatories in support of the rule. As the “CFPB has demonstrated with its comprehensive study,” they wrote, “forced arbitration shields corporations from accountability for abusive, anti-consumer practices, which only encourages unscrupulous business practices by allowing violations of the law to go unchecked.”

“It isn’t realistic, fair, or effective to expect consumers to hold large corporations accountable one-by-one in arbitration over an illegal fee that might be only $30,” said CFA Legislative Director Rachel Weintraub in a press statement applauding the strong congressional support for the rules. “But that $30 multiplied by millions of consumers is considerable, and only class actions give consumers the ability to join together to obtain relief and put corporations on notice that mistreating consumers is unacceptable.”

Groups Urge Stronger Protections Against Infant Mattress Hazards

Leading consumer and public health organizations, including CFA, have called for stronger action to protect babies from hazards posed by supplemental mattresses for soft-sided play yards. The groups, which earlier petitioned the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to ban supplemental mattresses due to the suffocation hazard they pose to infants, have also endorsed legislation in New Jersey that would ban the sale of unsafe supplemental mattresses intended to be used by children in such products as non-full size cribs, portable cribs, play pens, and play yards.

Supplemental mattresses are sold individually, can be bought for use with play yards, and are advertised as safe. According to CPSC data, at least 15 children died from 2000 through 2013 while sleeping on supplemental mattresses. These deaths occurred when children became wedged in gaps created when the supplemental mattress was added to the play yard or portable crib.

The voluntary standard, ASTM F406-13, acknowledges this risk with a warning label  on play yards urging consumers not to use these mattresses, and instructing consumers to only use the original mattress pad contained in the play yard package.  Still, these supplemental mattresses, seemingly in contradiction to this voluntary standard and the warning label, continue to be sold.

While CFA and others continue to call for federal action, “strong action at the state level not only will protect children but will send a clear signal to the manufacturers of these products and to the CPSC that there is a serious safety hazard posed by these products and a solution is needed,” said CFA Legislative Director Rachel Weintraub.

Meanwhile, a number of retailers have acknowledged the hazard posed by these mattresses and are working to stop selling them. Toys R Us, Sears, Kmart, Buy Buy Baby and Wayfair state that they never sell these products either in their stores or online.