The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee is expected to vote soon to significantly raise the
fuel-economy rules for light trucks, cars and sport-utility vehicles. The committee is
finalizing details on the new mileage rules that may be added to a comprehensive energy
bill, which will be debated during the second week of February. Current Corporate Average
Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards require cars to average 27.5 miles per gallon (mpg) and light
trucks to get 20.7 mpg. A draft copy of the energy bill circulated last month called for
increasing the fuel efficiency of cars built between 2007 and 2010 to 36 mpg, and to 27.5
mpg for light trucks. This could negatively affect tow ratings by requiring lighter
vehicles with smaller engines.
