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CBS4 Investigates Gas Additives Claims

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Nov 13, 2008 10:11 pm US/Mountain

CBS4 Investigates Gas Additives Claims

Written by Rick Sallinger
DENVER (CBS4) ― The decline in fuel prices isn't stopping marketers from promoting a gas additive that they say will boost mileage on your car.

But who is behind it and does it work? CBS4's Rick Sallinger has been looking into it.

It's not sold in stores, but person to person. It's what's called multi-level marketing.

The company, BPI Worldwide, was founded by an evangelist who has pushed everything from energy drinks to muscle building and diet supplements.

His mantra seems to be "praise the Lord" and "get more miles per gallon."

Pastor Lowell Mims is the founder of BPI, Bioperformance Improver.

BPI offers the possibility to get better gas mileage and get rich at the same time. It comes in pills or powder. Just pour it in your gas tank, fill up a few times and the results should be apparent.

What kind of improvement does one see in gas mileage?

"It's been a real improvement, it varies from car to car," Terry Orlowski, seller of BPI, said.

Orlowski is one hundreds of sellers around the Denver area. There are thousands nationwide.

Some post ads on Youtube.

"How would you like have a significant increase in your gas mileage the next time you go to the gas station," one ad proclaims.

Does it work? Sallinger bought a can for $25 to try to find out. The following is his account:

It smells like mothballs because it has the same ingredient -- naptholene. We took our car to the National Center for Vehicle Emissions Control and Safety at Colorado State University where first they did a test to establish mileage before using the product.

The results -- 17.67 miles per gallon.

We followed the directions. The instructions said fill up four times.

We did, then tested again.

With the BPI additive the mileage was 17.65 miles per gallon, a statistically insignificant difference.

Joe Beebe tested the vehicle at the CSU center.

He said, "We didn't find any reason to conclude that this product provided any change one way or another in the fuel economy of this vehicle."

CBS4 asked BPI seller Greg Miller to comment on the CSU center's test results.

"I would question how they tested it and question whether all the directions were followed properly," he said.

Two years ago the Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott obtained a court order against the company.

At the time, he announced, "This shuts down this illegal operation and provides restitution for countless consumers duped into purchasing this product."

The Texas Attorney General's action led to the return of $7 million to BPI customers. Since then BPI's compliance officer says they have taken great pains to make sure they aren't making specific mileage improvement claims that cannot be backed up.

BPI then went out and hired a lab to do testing on the product its sellers now tout.

One posting on YouTube proclaims "Now this isn't just a garage. This is a U.S. government federally approved laboratory."

Wallace Laboratories of Houston wrote, "The product causes a real improvement in fuel economy and reduction in emmissions."

Jeffrey Kimes of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says they haven't seen the results.

"The bottom line with that is there is no magic potion that we are aware of or shown to us that greatly improves mileage and reduces emissions," Kimes said.

Nevertheless, you might say BPI seems to be getting a lot of mileage out of its claims.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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