Ford officials said the carmaker used MPG tests on their Fusion Hybrid sedan to generate the fuel economy label for the C-Max, which will get its fuel economy rating dropped. It was allowed under EPA rules but Ford said it plans to test C-Max separately going forward. There are no plans to change the mpg ratings on the Fusion hybrid, company officials said.

“This is an industrywide issue with hybrid vehicles,” Raj Nair, head of global product development for Ford, told reporters today. “We’ve learned along with EPA that the regulations create some anomalies for hybrid vehicles under the general label rule.”

Ford’s move shows the high stakes surrounding fuel economy in today’s car market, where buyers are more sensitive to high gasoline prices and the Obama administration is requiring automakers to meet stricter mileage standards.

“There are customers that are above the” 47 mpg number, Nair said. “There are customers that are below the number. We take the customers that are below the number very seriously.”

Ford is the second automaker to back down on lofty fuel-economy claims in the past year under pressure from the EPA. Hyundai and its Kia affiliate in November agreed to change the labels on most of their models after the agency discovered that the brands had submitted flawed results for one of the tests used to calculate fuel economy numbers.

All four Hyundai and Kia nameplates that had been advertised as getting 40 mpg in highway driving received new labels showing 36 to 38 mpg.

Hyundai and Kia offered customers of 900,000 vehicles prepaid fuel cards for compensation. In January, Bloomberg reported that Hyundai set aside about $225 million and Kia about $187 million to cover the reimbursements.

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