Ford Downgrades C-Max Hybrid To 43 MPG – Will Give Current Owners $550 Compensation – C-Max Hybrid Was Not Actually Tested
By TTAC Staff on August 16, 2013
After facing consumer complaints and lawsuits over consumers failing to get advertised fuel economy Ford announced on Thursday that it will be downgrading the combined MPG rating of the C-Max Hybrid from 47 to 43.
The company says the discrepancy consumers have been seeing is because the C-Max Hybrid was never actually tested. Instead the Ford says that it relied on data from the Fusion Hybrid, with which it shares drivetrain components. Ford says that it will now test the C-Max Hybrid itself. Current C-Max Hybrid owners will be compensated with $550 and lessees will receive $325. Cars still on dealer lots will be relabeled with new Monroney stickers while owners and lessees will be notified by mail. It’s not clear if Ford will drop the price of the C-Max Hybrid by a similar amount. If you are a C-Max owner or lessees and have questions, you can contact Ford’s Customer Relationship Center via the web, or by phone at 800-392-3673.
Using the Fusion Hybrid MPG test results was allowed under EPA rules. Raj Nair, who is in charge of global product development at Ford, said, ”This is an industrywide issue with hybrid vehicles. We’ve learned along with EPA that the regulations create some anomalies for hybrid vehicles under the general label rule.”
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