EPA changes car efficiency testing standards

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is giving automakers new guidelines for how to test vehicles’ fuel efficiency.

The new guidelines distributed to automakers Monday gives them a new way to measure road load force, a measurement of the forces that provide resistance to a moving vehicle.

{mosads}The guidance is meant to help car companies give more accurate fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions figures when they market their cars, and to better protect them from EPA penalties.

“Releasing this guidance enhances our oversight of our fuel economy labels to ensure that consumers have reliable fuel economy information, and that EPA’s historic greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and light trucks achieve the environmental results promised to the American public,” EPA spokeswoman Liz Purchia said in a statement.

The EPA audits a limited number of vehicles every year to ensure that car companies are giving accurate efficiency ratings.

Monday’s guidance came months after the EPA fined Hyundai Motor America and Kia Motors America for allegedly making false claims for multiple vehicles’ efficiency ratings.

Hyundai and Kia, both owned by South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co., were accused of using improper methods for testing vehicle’s road loads. The settlement from the sister companies was worth $350 million.

Purchia said the EPA’s guidance was part of its mission “to provide accurate, repeatable and reliable estimates for typical U.S. drivers and average driving conditions.”

Officials told automakers that the EPA will use the new testing guidelines in its random vehicle efficiency audits.