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Should heavy-duty pickup trucks have window stickers with fuel mileage estimates?

If you were to stroll into your nearest Chevrolet, Ford, GMC, Nissan, or Ram dealership, you'd find a bunch of pickup trucks. Most of those would have proper window stickers labeled with things like base prices, options prices, location of manufacture, and, crucially, fuel economy estimates. But you'd also run across a number of heavy-duty trucks with no such fuel mileage data from the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA doesn't require automakers to publish the valuable miles-per-gallon measurement for vehicles with gross weight ratings that exceed 8,500 pounds. That makes it difficult for consumers to compare behemoths powered by turbocharged diesel engines – between one another, and between smaller, gasoline-fueled trucks. Consumer Reports doesn't think it should be this way, and it's spearheading an effort (PDF link) to get the government to require manufacturers to publish fuel economy estimates. In its own testing, CR found that heavy-duty pickups powered by Ford's Power Stroke, GM's Duramax, and FCA's Cummins diesel engines (which doesn't include the Ram's EcoDiesel) get worse fuel mileage than their lighter-duty gas-powered siblings. We're not so sure HD-truck buyers are unaware of this fact – big diesels don't really come into their own until big loads are placed in their beds or attached to their trailer hitches. Under heavy workloads, the diesel trucks will almost certainly return greater efficiency than a similar gas-powered truck. What's more, HD trucks with lumbering diesels in general make the driver feel more confident while towing due to greater torque at low engine RPM than gas trucks. They also offer greater max-weight limits. Still, we agree EPA fuel mileage estimates should be offered for heavy-duty pickups. And we think the comparisons provided by Consumer Reports might be interesting to potential buyers. Click here to see the results of CR's tests, and let us know what you think using the poll below. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty: First Drive View 22 Photos News Source: Consumer Reports Government/Legal Green Read This Chevrolet Ford GMC Nissan RAM Fuel Efficiency Truck Commercial Vehicles Diesel Vehicles poll gmc sierra hd chevy silverado hd

GM trademarks 'GearOn,' possibly for pickups

On May 27, a week before General Motors applied for a trademark for the word "Zora," GM filed a trademark application at the US Patent and Trademark Office for "GearOn," characterized as a "truck bed cargo system comprised of tiered storage cross rails, utility rack stanchions, cargo dividers and cargo tie down rings."
We have no idea what it will be or if we'll see it used on anything, but GM Authority reckons it could be GM's name for a pickup truck feature to rival the BoxLink system Ford introduced on the 2015 F-150. BoxLink has been described as having "dozens of configurations of stowable cargo ramps and lockable die-cast aluminum tie-down cleats," giving owners the ability to arrange the bed in they way they need and load unwieldy items like motorcycles without needing extra equipment.
Getting purely speculative, a month ago GM pickup truck engineers said there would be more and more regular updates for the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra starting next year. Beyond the suspected capability and fuel economy changes GearOn could be one of the "neat things coming in a whole host of areas."

2015 Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon airbag problem causes recall

The recall affects 2,432 vehicles, though only 138 had actually reached consumers.
General Motors quickly fixed an airbag-wiring problem with the 2015 Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, but is still conducting a small recall to repair the midsize trucks that are launching this fall.