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Q: What is it exactly that makes the Auto Alliance’s Ad “deceptive?”
A: The claim that “Autos manufactured today are
virtually emission-free” is simply untrue. They pretend that harmful heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions from new autos do not exist. It is a fact that there are more CO2 emissions coming from today’s autos than there were 20 years ago. Only 4 nations in the world emit more total heat-trapping carbon dioxide pollution from burning fossil fuels than U.S. autos release alone.
Global warming pollution is expected to lead to worse smog, an increase in asthma-triggering pollen and molds, and a substantial rise in the number of heat-related illness and death. It is bad enough that the Auto Alliance is engaged in a lawsuit to block breakthrough regulations on global warming emissions from autos. To compound that anti-consumer action with this blatantly false and misleading claim is irresponsible.
Q: But what about that “99 percent cleaner than you think” line?
A: Well, it depends on what “you think.” If you think cars and light trucks are still a significant part of the pollution problem, then you are right and the automakers’ ad is misleading. As noted above, U.S. autos produce more heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions today than they did 20 years ago. On top of that, cars and trucks on the road today are responsible for one-fifth of the nation’s smog-forming pollution.
It is true that federal and state government regulations have forced automakers to cut smog-forming pollution from cars and trucks, but with twice as many autos on the road over the last 30 years traveling farther each day, smog-forming pollution from cars and trucks continues to be a problem. So, while we have worked with legislators and some automakers over the years on tighter emissions standards, even if every car and truck on the road in 2009 met the strict Tier 2 emissions standards, it would still result in 500,000 tons of smog-forming emissions every year.
The only case where their claim is even remotely true is if you compare the average smog-forming emissions required in 2009 to those of 1965, before government even regulated them. Not only are they asserting that everyone thinks auto pollution is still stuck in the 1960s, but they are leaving the impression that smog-forming emissions from cars and trucks is not a problem. That is akin to a waiter bringing you a plate of pasta with a cockroach on it and saying, “this plate is 99% cockroach free.” It may have only one roach instead of 100, but we’d all agree that it’s important to be served roach free food.
Q: What other emissions are coming from today’s autos?
A: There are a wide variety of toxics linked to cancer such as formaldehyde, 1-3 butadiene and benzene. If you look at these emissions from a cancer-risk standpoint, there will still be some 350,000 tons of benzene-equivalent emissions from autos as far away as 2020 when the new, Tier 2-compliant cars account for the majority of the vehicle fleet.
Q: Okay, their ad had some serious misrepresentations, but why did you choose a child holding a cigarette?
A: The Auto Alliance deceptive ad implies their products are clean and healthy for our children. Automakers have not lived up to their responsibility to clean up their products and reduce risks for our children’s health and environment. Further, with this dubious choice in ad strategy, the Auto Alliance is trying to hide harmful contents of their products much like cigarette makers did. Their blatantly false claims deserve a powerful response.
Compounding the falsehoods in content, the ad was placed in “inside the Beltway” publications at a time when the Congress is discussing potential rollback of important aspects of the Clean Air Act. The Auto Alliance is also one of the lead groups suing to stop landmark regulations on global warming pollution from autos. The Alliance’s strategy is an irresponsible attempt to shift the focus of the pollution debate completely away from cars and trucks. We simply cannot allow that strategy to succeed.
Q: Are you planning to place the UCS counter-ad anywhere other than your website?
A: Yes, we are planning on placing both online banner ads and the print version you see above in as many places as fiscally possible. We will start with the sources the Auto Alliance used for their campaign, but we hope we are able to go far beyond that to let automakers know that such misleading ads will be both debunked and exposed to the general public. We do not, of course, have the funds that the automakers pump into the Auto Alliance’s PR machine. If you feel as we do that the Auto Alliance’s “emissions omissions” must be exposed far and wide, please help by contributing to place these ads.
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Click here to ask the Federal Trade Commission to open a false advertising investigation on the Auto Alliance
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For a full analysis of the advertisement, including sourced footnotes detailing the analytical process behind each of the above statistics, please go to our fact sheet.
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in clean vehicles