My reply to the ASA about Toyota and Self-Charging
From: Samuel Price
To: Ben Redknap <benr@ASA.Org.UK>
Sent: Sunday, 3 March 2019, 00:16:56 GMT
Subject: Re: Your ASA reference A19-561662 Toyota
Please could you reconsider the case, I believe you are missing the point I address some of you comments in-line below but also consider this:
It is scientifically possible to produce petrol from the products contained in the exhaust of a vehicle. To do so would require specialised equipment and energy, but theoretically I could build a car that took energy, say from a generator attached to the wheels that was powered by the act of braking, and use that to create a small amount of petrol from exhaust gases that I had stored from previously driving. You are saying that it would be fine for me to market this vehicle as "self fuelling" because my contraption puts fuel back in the tank when I brake?
I think this would be very misleading to the general public because in reality all I've done is use some tech to make the car slightly more efficient.
This is exactly the same as the toyota hybrids. The original source of power is fossil fuels and they use some tech to make them slightly more efficient by capturing some energy when braking. By using the term "charging" they are implicitly implying that their cars are EVs, electrically powered when in fact whilst they may as an intermediary part of the drive-train convert the fuel energy into electrical energy and even recuperate some energy whilst braking, the original source of the energy was fossil fuels and therefore they are not EVs.
Additional comments in-line
On Wednesday, 27 February 2019, 09:21:01 GMT, Ben Redknap <benr@ASA.Org.UK> wrote:
Dear Mr Price
Thank you for contacting us about the Toyota ad and for your patience whilst we have been considering your complaint.
We asked the ASA Council to make a decision on a similar issue to the one you have raised, however after careful consideration, they decided that no further action should be taken.
The Issue(s)
Seven members of the public objected to five online ads:
Three complainants believed the claims, “self charging” in ads A, C, D and E were misleading, because they implied the car was electric and, therefore, environmentally friendly.
One complainant believed the claim, “self charging” in ad B was misleading, as it implied that the car could take itself to a charging station.
Three complainants believed the claims “self charging” in ads B and E were misleading, because the “charge” came from petrol.
One complainant believed the "self-charging" claim in ad A was misleading, because it was not possible to “truly” charge the car as it had no external charge socket.
The advertising rules
Advertising is considered to be misleading if it causes, or is likely to cause a consumer to make a decision they would not have otherwise taken.
The ASA Council’s decision – No further investigation
Council understood that both the Lexus and Toyota cars contained a petrol engine and a battery. The battery was charged either directly from the engine via a generator or by a regenerative braking system. Therefore the car battery was charged with no need to plug it into the mains.
- The term "charging" as stated above implies that the vehicle is an Electrically powered Vehicle and therefore environmental when in fact 100% of the energy for these vehicles originates as fossil fuels. The batteries in the vehicle are used to temporarily store some of that energy as part of the drive train but regardless of the sequence of energy transfer states the source of the energy is fossil fuels and therefore not an EV.
Council considered that consumers would interpret the claim “self-charging” in the context of these ads to mean that the car would not have to be plugged in to an external source in order to be charged up, which was how the cars operated.
- But they do have to be 'plugged' into a petrol station pump. The term charging is used widely in society to refer to object and devices such as laptops and phones that are powered by electricity. By using the charging word Toyota are likening their vehicles to electrically powered devices whereas in fact they are fossil fuel powered.
On this basis they were unlikely to be misled into thinking that the cars would self drive to a charging station, could be plugged into the mains or would recharge themselves without petrol.
In ads B, C and D, there was no mention of electric cars or plug in hybrids. Ad A raised a comparison with these types of car but this ad also made clear that the car had a petrol engine and did not charge from the mains. The “self charging” claim in these ads was unlikely to mislead consumers into assuming the cars were electric or plug in hybrids.
The claim “self charging” on its own, free of any environmental statements or context, was unlikely to be interpreted as an environmental claim but was more likely to be understood as a car that was free of a charging point. While ad A did mention the environmental benefits of the car, it made no comparison with electric cars or plug in hybrids in terms of environmental impact. For these reasons Council have concluded the term “self-charging” was unlikely to mislead consumers into thinking the cars were equally as environmentally friendly as electric cars or plug in hybrids.
- Then why are they using the term? They wouldn't use this terminology if they didn't think it was going to sell more cars. There are lots of brands of hybrid vehicles but no-one else is as yet using the 'charging' term when discussing vehicles that are exclusively powered by fossil fuels.
Action taken
We have made the advertiser aware of the issues that were brought to our attention in case they wish to take on-board the information provided when creating their ads in the future.
Thank you for contacting us with your view. If you want to know more about the ASA you can visit our website, www.asa.org.uk.
Your sincerely
Ben Redknap
Complaints Executive
Direct Line 020 7492 2116
Advertising Standards Authority
Mid City Place, 71 High Holborn
London WC1V 6QT
Telephone 020 7492 2222
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