Civic Hybrid MPG class action lawsuit settled... now heading to small claims court

[MetroMPG]

For those who haven't seen this yet, Honda was sued in 2007 in the US by two Civic Hybrid owners who weren't getting the mileage their cars were advertised to get:

• 49 city / 51 highway (by the old, pre-2008 ratings method)

They were getting 31 mpg.

Honda has reportedly settled the lawsuit, and has agreed to take a number of actions as a result of it, including:

• rebates to dissatisfied owners on other (non-hybrid) new / used Hondas

• sending "eco-driver's ed" DVD's to all Honda hybrid owners

• changing their advertising from "mileage may vary" to "mileage will vary"

• and a few other things.

See this article for more info: Civic Hybrid Mileage Brouhaha Continues | Hybrid Cars

What a mess!

It would have been interesting to know exactly what those two owners were doing to get such crappy mileage from their cars (or if it was in fact their fault).

The case does raise some interesting issues, eg. the implications of marketing vehicles based on fuel economy.

I know one hybrid owner who has never been happy with his car because he never gets the advertised numbers. Now, he's probably never gotten the advertised numbers in ANY car he's owned, but he never bought those cars with fuel economy in mind. And none of them had MPG displays in the middle of the dashboard to show him how badly they were doing.

[NiHaoMike]

Another Civic Hybrid got 68MPG.
World Record Attempt
It sounds like the drivers need to learn from the professionals...

[SVOboy]

Shouldn't their problem be with the EPA who makes the ratings and not the company that has no control over what the ratings will be.

Idiots.

[bestclimb]

how does "millage may vary" not cover the eventuality that perhaps the millage might not be what it was said to be?

[MetroMPG]

Ha. Found an interview ABG did with the driver.

AutoblogGreen Q&A: Civic Hybrid owner John True (he's the guy suing Honda) — Autoblog Green

Says he didn't do anything unusual, but also didn't try to save.

Some of the comments are interesting. There's a good story by a Honda salesman who would get similar complaints from hybrid owners, and then he'd show up the complainers with their own cars, then give them tips.

[Daox]

I can't believe they won. Ben is right, Honda doesn't claim that MPG, the EPA does.

Also, someone should have driven the car to verify these idiots were in fact just idiots who don't know how to drive... stuff like this makes me mad.

[tjts1]

Funny how everyone is ready to blame the victim. Why makes you so sure it was the driver's fault rather than a problem with the car?

[Daox]

Honda would offer to fix the car before getting sued. If the 'victim' declined, they obviously wouldn't have won.

[tjts1]

Originally Posted by Daox

I can't believe they won. Ben is right, Honda doesn't claim that MPG, the EPA does.

Honda to used the EPA numbers in it's adverising. If honda didn't believe those numbers to be accurate, then they shouldn't appear anywhere other than the gov mandated window sticker. I hope more people take manufacuturers to task on this point. I'm tired I seeing inflated FE claims in every car ad. GM is pushing 7 seat SUVs that get 32mpg. If that's not false advertising I don't know what is.

[thatguitarguy]

I wonder how stupid they really are? Would they be able to figure out how to get better mileage if gasoline were $10 a gallon? $15 dollars a gallon? Or would they just sue the gas companies?

At some point along the way even stupid people can figure out that modifying their own behavior has something to do with the results.

(Your results may vary. We accept no responsibility for your own stupidity. By reading this you accept these terms. By not reading this, you accept your own stupidity and are responsible for it.)

(serious)