U.S. obesity problem impacts automobile safety and fuel economy

Consumer Reports Cars Blog: U.S. obesity problem impacts automobile safety and fuel economy: "A detailed study published in 2006 at Entrepreneur.com analyzed the amount of additional fuel consumed due to heavier drivers. One key finding was that almost 1 billion gallons of gasoline per year can be attributed to passenger weight gain in non-commercial vehicles between 1960 and 2002--this translates to .7 percent of the total fuel used by passenger vehicles annually."