Gas Saving Tips: Common Fallacies

Why Some Gas Saving Tips Don't Make Sense

Most tips you hear about saving gas are true. Changing your oil, keeping your tires properly inflated and removing excess weight are all good things and will save gas. Some gas-saving tips that appear sound on the surface are really wrong. What may appear to be common sense does not necessarily hold up when the underlying mechanics are investigated. Other advise you have been given is just foolish. Here are a few common misconceptions about saving gas.

The pickup truck and the tailgate
False: Driving with the tailgate down will make your pickup truck more aerodynamic and improve your gas mileage.

The position of the tailgate has a nominal effect on a truck’s gas mileage. Pickup trucks are designed to be their most aerodynamic with the tailgate up and locked. This topic created a storm on the NPR show, Car Talk, eliciting wind tunnel engineers and one former General Motors president, Bob Stempel, to set the record straight. Even the Discovery Channel took on this myth on the show Mythbusters. Conclusion? Myth busted.

The air conditioner
False: Driving with your air conditioner on decreases you mileage.

A car’s air compressor does pull power from the engine using some gas, but the effect is negligible on late model cars. To save that small amount of fuel, you will need to turn the A/C completely off. Before you suffer the heat or roll down the windows consider that on most cars the drag increases when the windows are down. The net effect is that the increased drag cancels out any fuel savings from turning the A/C off. Use your A/C and be comfortable on hot days.

Park in the shade
False: Parking in the shade or using window screens will make the air conditioner run less and save fuel.