View Single Post
Old 04-20-2016, 10:49 AM   #1 (permalink)
MetroMPG
Batman Junior
 
MetroMPG's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: 1000 Islands, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 22,513

Blackfly - '98 Geo Metro
Team Metro
Last 3: 70.09 mpg (US)

MPGiata - '90 Mazda Miata
90 day: 52.71 mpg (US)

Even Fancier Metro - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage top spec
90 day: 70.75 mpg (US)

Appliance car - '14 Mitsubishi Mirage ES (base)
90 day: 60.16 mpg (US)
Thanks: 4,058
Thanked 6,957 Times in 3,602 Posts
Mitsubishi busted for cheating on fuel economy/emissions tests


JDM Mitsubishi eK Wagon. Only Kei class cars affected for now, but the company says they're looking at other models' tests.

Looks like Mitsu is following in Hyundai & Ford's footsteps, gaming fuel economy ratings with "erroneous" road load/rolling resistance values.

The ratings overstated fuel efficiency by 5 to 10 percent.

Mitsu was outed by Nissan, which rebrands some of Mitsu's cars for sale in Japan.

Quote:
The models affected include the eK Wagon and eK Space, manufactured and sold by Mitsubishi, and the Dayz and Dayz Roox, manufactured by Mitsubishi and supplied to Nissan for sale. According to Mitsubishi, it was Nissan's in-house testers that discovered the discrepancy between the cars' published fuel efficiency data, and their real-life results.

Source: http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/20/11...ficiency-tests
So far they're saying it's just the Kei vehicles, but they're saying likely more are affected:
Quote:
During our internal investigation, we have found that the testing method which was different from the one required by Japanese law has been applied to other models manufactured by MMC for the Japanese domestic market.

Taking into account the seriousness of these issues, we will also conduct an investigation into products manufactured for overseas markets.

Source: http://www.mitsubishi-motors.com/pub...etailg420.html
Will the Mirage be affected?

The company has gone to great lengths advertising it as the most fuel efficient non-hybrid available in North America (and at/near the top of its class in many other countries).



I'm thinking probably not.

1) Real world stats show the Mirage's EPA ratings are already conservative/realistic. 125 owners on average are already beating the rating by a good amount over 1.2 million km of real world driving:
2) The cheat appears to apply to JDM testing only. The EPA has already revised coastdown/road load testing in the States after busting Hyundai for similar cheats. Ford too.

For the 2017 model year, coastdown testing procedures are stricter. The 2017 Mirage already has a ~1 MPG lower rating than the 2014/15 model years, possibly because of this change. (Although they also changed the engine slightly.)

Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	eK_2013_Custom.jpg
Views:	356
Size:	48.1 KB
ID:	19943  
__________________
Project MPGiata! Mods for getting 50+ MPG from a 1990 Miata
Honda mods: Ecomodding my $800 Honda Fit 5-speed beater
Mitsu mods: 70 MPG in my ecomodded, dirt cheap, 3-cylinder Mirage.
Ecodriving test: Manual vs. automatic transmission MPG showdown



EcoModder
has launched a forum for the efficient new Mitsubishi Mirage
www.MetroMPG.com - fuel efficiency info for Geo Metro owners
www.ForkenSwift.com - electric car conversion on a beer budget
  Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to MetroMPG For This Useful Post:
Xist (04-26-2016)