The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 384
If the vehicle is still under manufacturer warranty, then it means that the vehicle
had to have been made sometime within the last few years. If that's the case,
then it means that the vehicle is warranted for E10. If the vehicle is flex-fuel,
then it is warranted for anything up to and including E85. Therefore, it seems
preposterous for Ms. Fix to claim that she's received such letters from vehicle
owners. The only option is that the vehicle owners used E15 or E85 in a nonflex fuel car. If the claim is that they used E15, I'd like to know where and how
these people found the E15, since it is so very limited. In short, I think that the
claim that Ms. Fix receives so many letters for this problem is a gross exaggeration, bordering on an outright lie.
Aside from anything else, I challenge the claim that new vehicle owners with
valid warranties experienced any problems from using E15, assuming they
could find it. Studies conducted by the most prestigious laboratories have
clearly stated that E15 will not have any effect on any modern gasoline-powered
passenger cars and trucks. Moreover, I know from years of personal experience
in using splash blended E20, E30, E40, and E50 in non-flex fuel cars that it
causes no ill effects (splash blending is when a consumer manually does his/her
own blending by pumping a quantity from an E85 pump and then pumping in a
quantity from an E10 pump).
If the people that Lauren Fix is talking about filled their non-flex fuel vehicles
with E85, then the only problem they might have experienced would have been
that the Check Engine light illuminated and/or they experienced some rough
running because the on-board computer didn't know how to handle the E85.
Both of these problems are temporary, and the vehicle would have automatically resumed normal operation after refilling with the correct fuel.
Is it possible that a vehicle owner accidentally used E85 instead of E10 in their
non-flex fuel vehicle? Sure, but it's also possible for a person to accidentally
use diesel or plain water instead of E10. In instances like these the problem is
not the fuel, it's the individual.
For the next couple of minutes of the show Ms. Fix repeats her nonsense about
ethanol causing corrosion problems in new and old cars. As newer, she cites
cars going back to the early 2000's; and for older she's talking about cars from
the 1960's and earlier. Keep in mind that by the mid 1990's cars made for America had to use parts that were not susceptible to ethanol corrosion.
For older cars, it’s possible that ethanol caused a problem. But then everything
can cause a problem, they're old cars. She makes it sound as if in the pre-RFS
