Ford C-MAX Hybrid

Ford boasted in this advertisement that its C-MAX Hybrid got an estimated 47 miles per gallon, a better mpg than the rival Toyota Prius. But this week, Ford announced that it was cutting the estimated mpg from 47 to 43 to better reflect reality, and it was going to refund consumers who purchased the vehicle before the change. Very few people are saying “wheeeee” over these changes, except those Ford owners who don’t care about their gas mileage and needed a little extra pocket change.

Independent research is often better than trusting the information in ads. The website fueleconomy.gov, run by the Department of Energy, has fuel economy estimates based on the EPA’s research and fuel economy estimates gathered from actual drivers. Consumer Reports also tests vehicles and comes up with its own mpg estimates. Read more about misleading car ads in our previous article.