CAFE

What the June 2024 rule set

NHTSA's CAFE final rule (89 FR 52540, published June 24, 2024) set year-over-year fuel-economy stringency increases under 49 U.S.C. Chapter 329.

• Passenger cars: 2% per year, MY2027-2031.
• Light trucks: 0% per year for MY2027-2028, then 2% per year for MY2029-2031.
• Heavy-duty pickups and vans (HDPUV): 10% per year MY2030-2032, 8% per year MY2033-2035.
• Projected outcome: roughly 50.4 mpg combined car/light-truck fleet average by MY2031.

Compliance is measured as a sales-weighted fleet average; shortfalls historically drew civil penalties under 49 U.S.C. 32912 (formerly $5 per 0.1 mpg per vehicle).

What changed in 2025-2026

Two actions gutted enforcement:

• H.R.1 (the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Public Law 119-21, enacted July 4, 2025), Section 40006, amended 49 U.S.C. 32912 to substitute "$0.00" for the prior $5 and $10 penalty rates. The penalty is now $0.00 per 0.1 mpg. The change is prospective (it applies where no noncompliance notice has yet issued; already-assessed penalties remain owed). Manufacturers must still compute and report averages, but the core monetary-penalty lever is gone.
• NHTSA issued an interpretive rule on June 11, 2025 ("Resetting the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Program") asserting it may not consider EVs when setting "maximum feasible" standards, then a December 3, 2025 NPRM proposing to recalculate MY2022-2031 standards without EV imputation, dropping the MY2031 target to about 34.5 mpg. Comments closed about January 20, 2026; a final replacement rule was not yet published as of mid-2026.

Hiring relevance

The $0 penalty removes the financial driver behind CAFE-credit trading and compliance-engineering hiring at automakers. Regulatory-affairs work pivots to the replacement rulemaking docket; fuel-economy modeling demand contracts as standards are recalculated downward.