GM Proves Tacky Holiday Car Decorations Are Stupid
Before you tack those reindeer antlers on your ride, you might want to take a look at this scientific study!
It’s that time of year again. We’re talking about sitting in traffic, stuffing your face, and putting up with those visiting family members that you can’t stand. Yes, the holidays. A time filled with…joy? And of course, coexisting with people who put stupid holiday decorations on their vehicles. We hate to be real-life Scrooges here, but let’s be honest. Anyone who decorates their car for the holidays can’t be very popular in the office, can they?
And we aren’t the only ones who think this way, either. In fact, the mighty General Motors is playing the role of Scrooge this year. And they’re doing it with science! GM decided to demonstrate exactly how those tacky holiday car decorations affect things like aerodynamics in a wind tunnel. Which, of course, impacts your gas mileage. And not in a good way.
After tacking various things like reindeer antlers, a red nose, wreath, bow, and Christmas tree to a GMC Terrain, we find out the real truth. And we aren’t talking about the fact that Santa isn’t real (sorry kids!). All of these things add drag to your vehicle. GM found that even something as simple as dressing your car up like Rudolph resulted in a 3% increase in drag coefficient. And a loss of one mile per gallon!
But it gets even worse. A roof mounted bow increases drag by 15% and results in a whopping 3.5 mpg decrease. And strapping a Christmas tree to your roof decreases fuel mileage by up to 30% while adding an astounding 70% more drag. On the bright side, a grille-mounted wreath has no effect on aero. Though it might negatively alter your engine’s ability to draw in air for cooling purposes.
GM aero performance engineer Joel Ruschman sums it up perfectly. “It might be best to let Rudolph lead Santa’s sleigh instead of your ride this holiday season.” Plus, maybe you won’t be the butt of all the office jokes this year, too. It’s a win-win!
