As Seen on TV: The Fuel Doctor's Prescription for Profiting Off Suckers
One of the quickest ways to make a buck in the auto industry is to invent a miraculous, fuel-saving device that anyone can quickly attach to their car. It doesn't actually have to work, or even do anything at all, but nice packaging, good design and an all-out marketing campaign are essential elements if you want the miracle product to turn a profit.
The latest gas-saving device is the Fuel Doctor, and it offers the greatest pitch yet -- just plug it into your cigarette lighter and up to 25 percent better fuel economy (not to mention a reduction in electronic interference) are yours. It doesn't much matter if the critics say these devices don't work, because they have a long history of profitability going back to the "100-mpg carburetors" sold by barkers at state fairs and carnivals.
There's no end to these devices, some of which wire in under the hood or attach to the exhaust pipe. I've written about the Blade, FuelBoss, Fuel Genie, the Tornado Fuel Saver, the Platinum Gas Saver and many more. Some are "ionizers," others are magnets, "vortex generators" or "vapor injectors." Both Popular Mechanics and Consumer Reports have done lengthy reports on these devices, with consistently disappointing results.
According to PM, "there's no ignoring the laws of physics, people. Your vehicle already burns over 99 percent of the fuel you pay for. Less than one percent is squandered as unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide before the exhaust hits the catalytic converter for the last laundering. Even if one of these miracle gadgets could make the combustion percent 100 percent complete, the improvement in mileage resulting would be one percent."
One percent, not 25 percent, the Fuel Doctor's claim. My father in law, a mechanical engineer, handed me an ad for the Fuel Doctor last week (from Hammacher.com, where it was $79.95, opposite the Speaking Butler Alarm Clock). He said in giving it to me, and I'm paraphrasing, that a sucker is born every minute.
This device, sold everywhere from Best Buy to Ace Hardware, and online for $69.99 on up, gets the marketing right. The website is classy looking, showing off the results of glowing lab tests, and boasting of the company's sponsorship of NASCAR racers like Jeffrey Earnhardt and Brett Butler. The Fuel Doctor FD-47 "increases a vehicle's mpg through power conditioning of the vehicle's electrical system," the company says. "Conditioned and clean power allows the vehicle's electronic control unit (ECU), fuel injection and engine timing equipment to operate more efficiently--[resulting in] "more power" and "reduced exhaust emissions."
With fuel economy increasingly important to automakers, one might expect staff engineers to have thought of the principles behind the Fuel Doctor by now, especially if they can be brought on board with a $69.99 device that plugs into the cigarette lighter.
In its January 2011 issue, Consumer Reports puts a Fuel Doctor through its paces and issues a "Don't Buy: Performance Problem" warning. After extensive testing, including in the two-year or older cars the product is supposedly optimized for, CU concludes, "[W]e found it made no significant difference in any evaluation. As far as we can tell, all it does is light up when it's plugged in."
Devastating, right? Probably not where it matters, because the people who would buy a Fuel Doctor probably don't read Consumer Reports (and probably not this blog either). Anyway, some bloggers, such as this fellow at AskMen.com, say they actually like the thing: "[D]epending on your car and the distance you're driving, the savings provided by the device can easily cover its cost in just one trip," the post says.
This product is "As Seen on TV," and that has authority of a wholly different kind from the high barrier of proof demanded by CU. If you want good fuel economy, though, there's no free lunch: You have to buy a fuel efficient car, drive smoothly (no jack-rabbit stops) and not that fast, keep your tires inflated properly and empty the trunk occasionally.
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Photo: The Fuel Doctor