# House Passes 35 MPG CAFE Average; will Detroit Comply?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-passes-35-mpg-cafe-average-will-detroit-comply/428556>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [December 2, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-passes-35-mpg-cafe-average-will-detroit-comply/428556 "2007-12-02T15:35:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-passes-35-mpg-cafe-average-will-detroit-comply/428556/21 "2007-12-03T19:25:16Z")

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[QUOTE=Cluricaun]  
I was under the impression that the fuel consumption average that auto makers are under is a median for all vehicles produced, meaning if you have a car out that can get 80mpg you can also sell some rumbling behemoth that gets far less fuel economy as long as your average for all equals 35mpg. Am I mistaken?  
[/QUOTE]

It’s _average_, not median. So if you sell one 80-mpg car and two 15-mpg cars, you meet the requirement of 35-mpg average.

(Come to think of it, I’m not sure if it’s average in terms of miles per gallon, or average in terms of gallons per mile. I suspect the former, but I think the latter would make more sense.)

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