From Eric Peters Autos:

Heather Peters (no relation to this writer) just won her lawsuit against Honda over what she argued were misleading claims about the gas mileage she'd get out of her then-new 2006 Civic hybrid. She was awarded $9,867 in compensation, the maximum amount she could have been awarded in small claims court.

Now comes the deluge.

Because while Peters' $9k judgment is small potatoes, the fact that she succeeded could encourage a tsunami of similar court cases that might end up costing Honda (and potentially other hybrid car sellers and so, ultimately, consumers ) a lot more than $9k.

As Peters (a lawyer) notes, there are at least 200,000 Honda Civic hybrid owners alone. That's just one make/model of hybrid. There are at least a dozen different hybrid vehicles on the market – and theoretically, the same case could be made against them, too.

But is this Honda's (and the other car companies') fault? Or does the fault lie with the federal government?

For it is not Honda – or any other automaker – that puts the mileage numbers on the window sticker.

It is the federal government...

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