High Prices Fuel Gas-Savings Gadgets

Tag : Fuel Additives

NEW YORK - With fuel prices soaring, sales of products designed toboost gas mileage are also rising - even though the government saysthey're not worth the money.
The products range from devices that fit inside an engine's airintake valve to fuel additives. Their makers claim they boostmileage by helping gasoline burn more efficiently.
"The EPA Environmental Protection Agency has tested hundreds ofthese products," said Laura DeMartino, a Federal Trade Commissionattorney. "Even for the few that worked, the gas savings was sosmall it didn't justify the price."
But that's not discouraging people from searching for ways to ekeextra mileage out of their vehicles when gas prices are hoveringabove $4 a gallon nationally.
"Our sales have probably close to doubled," in the past year, saidDan Baxley, founding partner of Automotive Research Laboratory,which makes the Vortec Cyclone, a device designed to boost gasmileage by improving an engine's air flow.
The $40 device fits inside a car's air intake hose, where it"creates a swirling mass like a tornado," Baxley said. That createsa finer gas-air mix than normal, which burns more efficiently. SomeVortec Cyclone users have claimed a benefit of as much as 6 mpg,though most see an improvement of 1 to 2 mpg, Baxley said.
Kevin Shaw, vice president of development at The Coffee Beanery,has tested it on four of his company's vehicles. The coffee chainfound that it improved the performance of two of his service vansby 2 mpg, and one passenger car's fuel efficiency rose by 1 mpg.The fourth car saw no improvement, but Shaw said three out of fouris enough to convince him that the device is worth the money.
"I have nine on order right now," said Shaw, who thinks the deviceswill save his company at least $1,400 a year per vehicle in fuelexpenses.
Like other companies that sell gas-mileage-improvement products,Baxley is used to skepticism.
He says his company's tests prove that the Vortec Cyclone improvesgas mileage, and Automotive Research Laboratory backs its productup with a money-back guarantee. Returns run only about 5 percent ofsales, he said.
Automotive Research Laboratory has never received a complaint fromthe trade commission, which declined to comment on specificproducts.
'They All Thought We Were Frauds'
National Fuelsaver Corp., which makes Platinum Gas Saver, canimprove fuel mileage by 22 percent, said company owner andtechnical director Joel Robinson. The product, which the companystarted selling nearly 30 years ago, injects a small amount ofplatinum into a vehicle's air intake system. The platinum moleculesboost the amount of fuel burned by the engine, company pressmaterials say. The remainder is expelled as vapor and burned off bythe catalytic converter.
Robinson said he has been contacted by the trade commission andsome state attorneys general. But he's been able to defend hisproduct thanks to his victory in an early 1980s lawsuit brought bythe U.S. Post Office, which said he was trying to obtain moneythrough the mail by making false claims.
"They all thought we were frauds until I sent them the judge'sdecision," Robinson said.
Robinson produced data that, he said, show Platinum Gas Saverworks. But he also notes that - aside from his product - there ismerit to the trade commission's warnings.
"Except for ours, I think there's a lot of truth to it," Robinsonsaid. "The problem in selling this product is that in the last 10years there have been 10,000 phony fuel savers."
Platinum Gas Saver costs $150 for a 30,000-mile supply. Robinsondeclined to disclose annual sales.
A Lot Of Negative Press
Another company, Magnetizer Industrial Technologies, has stoppedselling a $150 gas-savings device to the public, citing high coststo fulfill individual orders and the skepticism that surrounds anykind of magnetic gas-savings device.
"There is a technology here that can benefit," said Ron Kita,director of research, but "there has been a lot of negative press."
Magnetizer's magnets work by changing naturally formed chemicalassociations "into a single, potentiated molecular state," whichburns more efficiently, the company's Web site states. The companystill sells the system to fleet operators as an emissions-reductiondevice.
The government's advice to people looking to save on gas: Drive thespeed limit, use cruise control, combine errands and remove excessweight from the trunk.