With gas prices becoming a major concern for drivers, there are lots of tips out there for increasing your gas mileage. Some tips are dubious. Among them:
• Don’t sweat the argument over staying cool with air conditioning versus lowering the windows. Testing by found neither made a huge difference in gas mileage.
• The U.S. Energy Department says underinflated tires can increase fuel consumption by more than 3 percent. However, a test by couldn’t find much effect on gas mileage, although properly inflated tires are important for safety and to reduce tire wear. Similar is the usual advice to replace air filters to save gas. On modern vehicles, replacing a filter will improve acceleration performance but not gas mileage.
• Advertisements for gasoline additives that supposedly deliver better mileage are exaggerations or outright lies, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which has tested more than 100 of them. Consumer Reports’ tests of some “gas- saving” products that promise better fuel economy showed none worked, including Fuel Doctor and Fuel Genie. “Simply put: Don’t waste your money,” Consumer Reports says. Some “gas-saving” products may damage a vehicle’s engine or cause substantial increases in exhaust emissions, according to the EPA. Gregory Karp, Chicago Tribune
