CFA has undertaken an analysis of the relationship between increased vehicle fuel efficiency and safety, vehicle cost, fleet turnover, and sales, given these issues are part of the Trump/Pruitt team’s stated rationale for freezing gradually increasing fuel efficiency requirements intended to carry through to 2025, at year 2020. The original requirement was a true consensus standard in which the car companies, consumers, environmentalists, unions, and the government came to agreement in 2011 with implementation starting in 2012.
In what amounts to a rollback of the well-considered, money-saving standards, the Trump/Pruitt team has said that they jeopardize safety, hamper sales and raise costs. However, this report finds that newer, more fuel efficient vehicles have: 1) more safety features, 2) continue a strong upward trend in sales, 3) provide cost savings that eliminate price increases, and, in fact, 4) sell better as their fuel efficiency increases.