Ford recently released the news that it had reduced the reported fuel mileage on six of its 2013 and 2014 models. This is likely to come as a disappointment for most of their consumers because of the ever increasing cost of fuel and deteriorating economy. Even worse is that three of these models to be affected are hybrid car models. The three hybrid cars are cars from the Ford and Lincoln models. Two of the cars are the Ford plug-in hybrid cars and the last in the group is the Ford Fiesta, which is a new model rolled onto the market in 2014. The company intends to send goodwill checks of between $125 and $1,050 to the owners and lessees of the vehicles that were affected by the wrong ratings. This is to compensate them for the increased fuel that they will be consuming as a result of the lower ratings actually provided by the car.

The mistake in the ratings was caused by an error in the lab test measurements of the total road load horsepower. This is a test done to determine the emissions and fuel economy of new vehicles. Ford also made an error in the determination of the aerodynamic drag in the modelling of the virtual wind tunnel testing of the cars. Ford has since accepted that they made these mistakes and are taking the appropriate steps to compensate the parties that will be adversely affected by these errors.

The company says that it identified that errors had been made during one of its internal testing and validation procedures in March. The company then went ahead and informed the Environmental Protection Agency about its findings. The company then collaborated with the EPA to confirm the existence of these errors and develop the new lowered ratings for the affected cars.

The revisions also had a significant effect on the two plug-in-hybrid models manufactured by Ford. These energy efficient models saw the efficiency ratings reduced. A further disappointing fact is that their electric efficiency ratings were also reduced in the revisions. The following are the plug in hybrids that were affected:

The 2014, 201 3 Ford C-Ma plug-in-hybrid SE, SEL, saw its ratings reduced to 24 mpg combined from 40 mpg combined.

The 2013, 2014 Ford Fusion Hybrid S, SE, saw its ratings lowered from 47 mpg to 42 mpg combined.

The 2013, 2014 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid car saw its ratings drop from 45 mpg to 38 mpg.

The positive from all this is the fact that Ford is taking responsibility for the errors and compensating the affected parties.