Driving with the tailgate down can cost you more
I just saw a segment in Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters where they were testing the effects of driving a pickup truck with the tailgate down vs. driving with the tailgate up.
To test this, what they did is they rented out 2 identical pickup trucks. It carried the same weight, and loaded with a full tank of gas. They drove the car the same way, using cruise control and not much acceleration. They both run at the same speed all throughout the trip.
The result, the pickup truck with the tail gate down ran out of gas first while the other pickup truck ran about 30 miles more.
Scientifically, they’ve discussed why the difference. It has something to do with an increase in drag if the tail gate is down.
So, if you are driving a pickup truck, always keep your tailgate up to save on gas.
Tags: gas-saving-tips, mythbuster, pickup-truck, save-gas, tailgateRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Eco Simplicity, General, Thrifty Travel
1 opinion for Driving with the tailgate down can cost you more
JP
Sep 28, 2008 at 2:13 pm
They are assuming the two trucks were identical in performance, but that is an assumption that cannot be made. There are many variables when assemblying a machine such as a vehicle. They should have repeated the test and the second time switched the configuration. The truck that had the tailgate down should then become the truck with the tailgate up and the truck that originally ran with the tailgate up should then become the truck running with the tailgate down. Now how did the test fare? If the results were then the same, their results would have a lot more validity.
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