Does It Work? News Channel 7 Tests The Claims Of The Digital Fuel Mizer

Editor's note: This is the first in a three part series as News Channel 7's Diane Lee examines methods and products to help you save money on gas.

54 miles, 5 days a week. That's Patti Roberson's round trip commute every day for work.

"45 minutes one way, so I have to leave early," said Roberson with a sigh.

Her daily jaunt from Mauldin to Spartanburg and back makes her the perfect candidate to test out products that claim to improve gas mileage. 

First up, the Digital Fuel Mizer.

(Click here to find out more about the Digital Fuel Mizer)

The makers of this product claim advance micro-chips monitor your driving and tell you when hard acceleration or braking is costing you money.

"It is kind of scary wondering what it's going to tell me about me," said Roberson.

First thing first, we establish Patti's current gas mileage in her 2008 Kia.  She's kept records of the trip odometer mileage from the last several fill-ups.

So we divide each reading by the number of gallons she's used per trip to get gas mileage.  The average comes to 22.1 miles per gallon.

The company claims "tests show that it can actually reduce your fuel use by 10-20%."  So in Patti's case that would be roughly 2 to 4 miles, potentially bringing her new gas mileage to between 24 and 26.5 miles per gallon.

But enough math, Let's get on the road.

The Mizer works by alerting you to gas guzzling driving both through yellow and red lights as well as a light chirping noise.

"It's loud enough that you hear it but it's not too loud, so it makes you look to see what's going on," said Roberson. 

On that first day with the Fuel Mizer Patti even notices some bad driving habits she can correct like not starting out too fast from a full stop.

"I did not think that that little bit would waste gas, but it tells you when it beeps that you're accelerating too fast," said Roberson.

We send her on her way for a full week's worth of driving.  And when she returns to fill up, we learn her gas mileage is slightly worse at 21.36 miles a gallon (again her average is 22.1). 

"On the average I don't think most people would really pay that much attention to it," she concludes.

Roberson says the Fuel Mizer was not impactful enough to change 30 years worth of driving habits.  And she says the products response didn't always make sense.

"I'd be coasting and it would still go up and chirp on me, and I wasn't even doing anything."

The makers of the Fuel Mizer confirm paying attention is key. 

Dwayne Esterline, the President of GI Engineering Company tells us "If the driver does not listen to the warnings, then there will be no fuel savings".

And he goes on to say "Car and Driver magazine and many other organizations have tested the Digital Fuel Mizer, and have achieved excellent results. In most cases, the fuel savings exceeds 10%."

Seven On Your Side confirms the magazine did get positive results.

Still Roberson says it's not worth the price-tag.  "For the average driver I don't think they would pay enough attention to it to make it worth $70," she said.

So her search continues for a method to reduce her mileage.  And at this rate it could be a long road ahead.

HOW WE DID IT

Our test driver, Patti Roberson tracked her gas mileage for 3 weeks prior to testing.  To do that she set her trip odometer to zero every time she filled up.  Then on her next fill-up we divided her trip mileage by the number of gallons of the fill-up.  We averaged those 3 readings to get her average gas mileage before testing which was 22.1. 

Then Patti installed the Digital Fuel Mizer, filled up and set her trip odometer to zero once again.  After a week of driving she returned and her new gas mileage was 21.36.  Her mileage had gone down, so the Fuel Mizer did not work in changing her driving habits.

HOW MUCH WILL IT COST YOU?

News Channel 7 calculated the cost of gas mileage from Spartanburg, SC, to popular vacation destinations for Upstate residents, using the gas price ($3.702 per gallon, click here to get the latest price) as of  May 2, 2011 and the national average gas mileage for a car (19.8 miles per gallon according to the US Department of Transportation as of 2005).

Here are the results:

Disney World-573 miles-$100.40 one way, $200.80 round trip

Myrtle Beach-237 miles-$44.31 one way, $88.62 round trip

Charleston-203 miles, $37.95 one way, $75.90 round trip

Washington, D.C.-469 miles, $87.69 one way, $175.38 round trip.

Calculate your gas costs here.

It may be cheaper to fly to your destination. Find out here.

GAS SAVING MYTHS

With gasoline prices hitting record levels, it seems everyone has a tip on how to save fuel. Much of the advice is well-intentioned, but in the end, much of it won't lower your gas bill. Find out more here and here.