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NHTSA: Cash For Clunkers Going Great Guns

Taxpayers paying big bucks for traded gas guzzlers

By James Limbach
ConsumerAffairs.com

August 7, 2009

Figures released by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) show there had been 245,384 dealer transactions as of August 7, for a total of $1.03 billion dollars in rebates.

NHTSA figures from August 5 show Michigan leading all states in requested voucher dollar amounts with $44,399,500, followed by California at $39,926,500. Bringing up the rear is Wyoming with just $533,000.

The government says cars purchased under the program are, on average, 21 percent above the average fuel economy of all new cars currently available, and 63 percent above the average fuel economy of cars that were traded in. This, officials maintain, means the program is raising the average fuel economy of the fleet, while getting the dirtiest and most polluting vehicles off the road.

NHTSA records show that nearly half of new vehicles purchased under the program were from the U.S. Big Three. Their share in this program -- 45 percent -- is equivalent to their overall share in the auto market.

Four of the top ten selling vehicles are manufactured by the Big Three. Of non-Big Three purchases, preliminary analysis suggests that well over half of these new vehicles were manufactured in the United States.

Motorists are unloading SUVs and trucks in a big way as part of the program. The top five trade in vehicles are the Ford Explorer 4WD, Ford F150 Pickup 2WD, Jeep Grand Cherokee 4WD, Jeep Cherokee 4WD and Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 2WD.

The top five new vehicles purchased are the Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus FWD, Honda Civic, Toyota Prius and Toyota Camry.

Earlier this week, Public Citizen filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for information needed to assess whether the program is working. The group claimed NHTSA has not provided data showing that the program has had the desired effects, adding that the agency had not provided any specific information about the vehicles purchased or traded in.

NHTSA spokesman Eric Bolton told ConsumerAffairs.com that this clearly is not the case. "We do, in fact, issue statistical updates routinely on the program," Bolton said.

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