U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Vehicle Technologies Office
Fact #572: May 25, 2009
CAFE Standards for Model Year 2011
On March 30, 2009, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published the final rule for model year (MY) 2011 car and light truck Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. In this rule, the fuel economy targets are set by taking into account the size of the vehicle as measured by the vehicle footprint [the distance between the wheels (width) multiplied by the distance between the axles (length)]. NHTSA estimates that the new standards will save 887 million gallons of fuel over the lifetime of the MY 2011 cars and light trucks, and reduce CO2 emissions by 8.3 million metric tons during that period. The average standards are shown below. Each manufacturer will have a slightly different standard to meet based on how its average footprint varies from the total average footprint.
Average CAFE Standards for Model Year 2011 
Supporting Information
Average CAFE Standards for MY 2011 (Miles per Gallon)
| Cars |
30.2 |
| Light Trucks |
24.1 |
| Cars and Light Trucks Combined |
27.3 |
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Source: Federal Register, Vol. 74, No. 59, March 30, 2009. |
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