If You Want To Save Gas, All You May Need To Do Is Shed A Few Pounds

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new report on obesity and found that there was a 1.1 percent increase (an additional 2.4 million people) in the self-reported prevalence of obesity between 2007 and 2009, plus the number of states with an obesity rate over 30 percent has tripled to nine states. In 2000, there were no states that had an obesity rate of 30 percent or more. The rise in obesity in the United States has become a huge public health and medical cost concern, but there are other impacts. Obesity has caused more people to buy larger vehicles, which increases gasoline consumption in the U.S. and fuel consumption increases with more weight in cars either from people or cargo.

A detailed study published in 2006 at Entrepreneur.com analyzed the amount of additional fuel consumed due to heavier drivers. One key finding was that almost 1 billion gallons of gasoline per year can be attributed to passenger weight gain in non-commercial vehicles between 1960 and 2002--this translates to .7 percent of the total fuel used by passenger vehicles annually.

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Larrybel2000 - 8/18/2010 9:44:41 AM

+2 Boost

Oh no. Maybe the government should step in and regulate the fat people. lol.

Larry B.
Key West.

KKO84 - 8/18/2010 9:51:21 AM

+3 Boost

Fat tax? Why that's un-American! We'll get as big as we like and you have to put up with it! /endsarcasm

thstone - 8/18/2010 12:29:50 PM

+6 Boost

I had to put down my double-bacon-cheeseburger to type in my comment...

0to60 - 8/18/2010 1:41:21 PM

+2 Boost

There is nothing like a good BBQ bacon cheeseburger and french fries!!!

thstone - 8/18/2010 12:39:22 PM

+7 Boost

Jokijng aside, the cars themselves have also gained quite a bit of weight over the years.

The original Camry in 1982 had a wheelbase of 100 inches and a weight of 2,300 lbs. Compare this with the 2007 model with a wheelbase of 109 inches but a weight of 3,483.

That's a lot of cheeseburgers.

Agent009 - 8/18/2010 1:13:26 PM

+4 Boost

A lot of this is due to increased safety requirements and the resistance to use lighter but more expensive alloys.

Of course it doesn't help the cars are growing in size with each new model.

PlanB - 8/18/2010 1:22:44 PM

+2 Boost

Although heavier, cars today are much more advanced, faster and safer than they were 30 yrs ago, which is where most of that weight gain has come from. But I'm sure some of it has also come from us getting bigger and demanding bigger.

thstone - 8/18/2010 3:46:59 PM

0 Boost

I am not convinced that safer, faster, and more advanced should necessarily equal heavier.

Safer can be accomplished through better design (crumple zones, etc) and better materials which does not, in itself, mean heavier.

Faster should definitely mean lighter.

More advanced should also mean lighter though the use of more advanced design approaches and materials.

I think that the real culprit in weight increase is ammenities - full power everything; 12-speaker audio systems; nav systems; sound damping material, sensors (and their accompanying wiring) to monitor temps, pressures, and levels of everything in the car; ABS, traction control, etc. All of these add tremendous weight.

Lexus - 8/19/2010 12:42:31 AM

+3 Boost

After reading this, I am so embarass that American has become so Fat because of their laziness. I mean even the European are in much better shape than we are.

Something need to be done, I mean we have kids that are under 10 years old and are Obese???