Shell Oil taken to court in NZ for advertising that its fuel additives improve MPG
 

I get the impression that whether or not an oil company decides to market fuel saving properties of their products (be they fuel or lubricants) may depend a lot on the trade laws of the country...

Latest: from New Zealand

The issues aren't that the additive didn't help, but about the size of the gain, and the comparison to a base fuel that apparently 95% of consumers didn't buy anyway.

Full story: Shell in the dock over fuel additive claims | Stuff.co.nz

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Related (except from Malaysia) : Shell claims new "FuelSave" gasoline formulation increases fuel economy

But when I pump gas there, they have TV's at the pump with 'scientists' in lab coats telling me how well it works!

Does anyone believe advertisers anymore, at all?

Never did to start with!
Show me the proof! Hard repeatable data from an objective third party, ideally a double blind study.

This Shell stuff is marketed here and in the rest of Europe as V-Power and V-Power Diesel.

More expensive (official max. price, no reductions) and no FE savings to be had with it in my car.
Probably unrelated, but my engine blew an injector seal after going through 2 tanks of the stuff.

A local consumer mag and the German ADAC tested them, and found the results with these fuel-efficient fuels to be hit and miss.
Worked to some degree in certain cars, but didn't work in others.
The results were very inconclusive.

Also, the extra cost was not recovered as premium fuel also comes at a premium price.

...I'd like to see the "same" enforcement taken here in USA, because BS is BS, regardless of locale.