From Forbes?..
As automakers shave every extra ounce from new vehicles to boost fuel economy, a weight problem of a different sort could be thwarting their efforts.
The extra pounds people are packing on their waistlines might be offsetting gains in gas mileage, according to a blog post from the insurance company Allstate.
Weight gain of passengers in noncommercial vehicles could account for nearly 1 billion gallons of gasoline consumed per year in the United States from 1960 to 2002, Allstate says in an infographic accompanying its blog post.
Automakers are doing all they can to make new vehicles lighter than in the past, including using lightweight material like thinner steel. The goal is to reduce how much fuel they use. For example, the 2013 Nissan Altima is about 80 pounds lighter than the model it replaces, and the 31 miles per gallon it gets in combined city and highway driving is about 15 percent better than the previous model.
It might seem preposterous that portly passengers could negate the weight savings automakers are achieving. But consider that fuel efficiency improves 2 percent for every 100 pounds shed from a vehicle, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. So if a heavyset adult couple?each 50 pounds overweight?loses the extra weight, their fuel economy will go up 2 percent.
The reason automakers are going to great lengths to make lighter vehicles?Jaguar even reduced the number of rivets it uses on cars?is to comply with stringent new Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards. Fleet-wide fuel economy for passenger cars must jump to an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, from 32.8 miles per gallon this year.
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Source: http://www.lensaunders.com/wp/?p=5371
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