Cutting right to the chase, we have a serious issue in the lubricants business. It puts the vehicles of consumers at risk and makes it hard for honest lubricant manufacturers and marketers to compete. It also puts retailers and installers at risk of lawsuits, regulatory scrutiny and consumer ire.
The issue is deceptive and false labeling of retail motor oils. And although there are laws and industry standards to help protect consumers from becoming victims to such labeling, the bad guys are, unfortunately, smart and still at work. Further, they are increasingly perverse and clever in working to exploit gaps in the laws, using fine-print disclaimers, deceptive marketing terms and other deceitful techniques to prey on consumers ignorance and trust. And while our industry has made progress to stamp out some of the fires that burn consumers, there is still more work to be done.
One of the more visible examples of deceptive labeling is seen with motor oils on the shelves displaying a multiviscosity grade on the front label – but on the back label, you find the product only meets an API SA Service Category. This is a false and misleading claim and one that can result in injury to a consumers car.
Make no mistake about it – an API SA cannot be a multigrade product. Furthermore, SA oil is limited to use in cars built prior to 1930, and can cause harm to nearly all cars currently on the road. So here is why multigrade SA oil cant exist:
As defined in the American Petroleum Institutes engine oil system (Document 1509, Annex A, Table A-1), API SA motor oils are straight mineral oil. As such, they contain no additives. Motor oil requires the use of viscosity modifier additives to be a multigrade. Consistent with the API definition, SAE International in SAE J183 defines API SA oils as straight viscosity grade products. By either of these definitions, the terms API SA and multigrade are mutually exclusive; a motor oil cannot meet both an API SA Service Category and be an SAE multigrade.
Similarly, multigrade motor oil claiming to meet API SB is contradictory, since SAE did not recognize W grades until 1952. API SB motor oils are relegated for use in vehicles built prior to 1951.
And dont think these phantom multigrade API SA and SB products are hard to find. Large pockets of such products are seen from Florida to Chicago, and elsewhere.
While there are places where obsolete motor oils have applications, including some compressors, jacks, small engines, antique cars and other niches, its unfortunately easy to influence a consumers buying decision and put their cars at risk when the product is on shelves alongside motor oils that meet current specifications. In fact, there are several class action lawsuits currently filed against retailer Dollar General Corp. that speak to this issue.
Although there are other examples of false and misleading labeling of motor oils, we are now seeing something new and maybe even more concerning. These are marketers that thumb their noses at the API, SAE and other industry specifications and standards. Rather than running the risk of being taken to court by the API for trademark infringement or banned from sales by states because the product does not meet its SAE J300 viscosity claim, some of the labels we now see make no claims at all. Instead, they take advantage of consumers trust and ignorance of industry specifications. They do so with labels on the front of the bottle that include slick graphics and marketing terms suggestive of modern and high quality products and viscosity grades. But for those who take the time to read the back label, some of these products make no reference to any specifications. Instead, they include carefully crafted disclaimers that cleverly word the fact that the product may not even be motor oil and should not be used as such.
So buyers beware (Caveat emptor!). Its important to read the labels when buying motor oil. Although the majority of lubricant manufacturers and marketers (both majors and independents) produce quality motor oils, there are still some bad apples in the basket.
At the same time, sellers beware (Caveat venditor!). There are federal and state laws to protect consumers from false or misleading description or representation of products (fraud). These laws include remedies for damages in both civil and criminal actions against manufacturers that sell products that are mislabeled or misrepresent the content of the product.
Further, the laws and liability apply to others in the distribution chain, including distributors, installers and retailers. And, whereas some are making money selling bad apples, as evidenced by recent civil and criminal lawsuits, the legal system is joining the efforts of the Petroleum Quality Institute of America, ILMA and API to protect consumers from deceptive and false labeling practices in the lubricants business. The heat is on.
Next month: Dont throw the baby out with the bathwater. There are many quality value brands in the market to choose from.
Tom Glenn is president of the consulting firm Petroleum Trends International, the Petroleum Quality Institute of America, and Jobbers World newsletter. Phone: (732) 494-0405. E-mail: tom_glenn@petroleumtrends.com