Driving Barefoot May Noticeably Improve Gas Mileage

With gas prices in the U.S. on the rise and warmer weather becoming more regular, I wanted to revisit a topic I blogged about almost two years ago. I decided to do a little experiment to more definitively find out if the act of driving barefoot has any real impact on gas mileage. I wasn't terribly surprised by the results.

Driving barefoot may improve your gas mileage by double-digit percentages and, although it's believed by many to be against the law, it's perfectly legal in all 50 states, Canada and the UK to drive without shoes. The one exception is in Alabama, where motorcycle riders must don footwear.

Methodology

I conducted a generally unscientific study over the course of a month with my own vehicle, a 2003 Hyundai Sonata GLS with automatic transmission, to see what noticeable difference I might find driving shod versus barefoot. I set up a strict set of rules in order keep everything as equal as possible. This would ensure that the results would be more accurate and better comparisons could be made. The test involved driving on two subsequent tanks of gas. With the first, I drove with minimalist shoes on almost the entire tank and with the second, barefoot almost the entire tank.

While I would have liked to drive every bit of each tank only with shoes or barefoot, the logistics of making this happen were quite unrealistic. For the most part, however, driving with the opposite foot condition was very limited and ended up being only a few miles maximum.

The following rules were used in ensuring near equal conditions for both tanks:

• Both tanks were filled to near capacity, allowing for a few "clicks" of the pump when finished filling.
• I would drive with similar patterns of accelerating and braking with both tanks.
• A very small amount of driving - only a few miles - with the opposite foot condition would be allowed with each tank for logistical reasons.
• I would only record the mileage driven up to the point that the gas indicator light came on while in the process of driving. (The gas indicator light comes on when approximately two gallons of gas remain in the 17.2-gallon tank.)
• Similar routes would be used for driving to and from work each day.
• A near identical mix of city and highway driving would be attempted.
• No maintenance would be conducted on the vehicle during the test. (e.g. No car washes, oil changes, tire pressure adjustments, etc.)
• The same brand and grade of fuel would be used for each full tank.
• I would use the air-conditioning unit, radio and other ancillary systems for a similar number of miles.

And so I proceeded to drive. It took approximately 2 weeks to burn through each tank of gas. When all miles were driven and the test was complete, I did see a difference.

Results

Driving barefoot showed an improvement of 2.1 miles per gallon, a difference of +11.3%. In total, I drove 31.7 miles farther on a tank of gas without shoes.

This may not seem like much, but over time the savings would add up. According to AAA's Website, the national average for a gallon of gas in the U.S. on Wednesday, April 20, was $3.84 per gallon. When you figure out the difference in cost per mile (two cents, based on the MPGs from the results) and extrapolate that out to annual savings based on the U.S. Department of Transportation's annual mileage data, an average American could save about $284 a year, or almost $11 per bi-weekly paycheck, just from driving barefoot in a car similar to mine. That doesn't include any other fuel-saving measures that could save additional money. What could you do with an extra $11 in each paycheck?

Conclusions

The apparent increase in fuel efficiency from driving barefoot makes sense for a couple of reasons. I can tell you from experience that driving barefoot gives the best feedback from pedals to foot that anyone can achieve. Wearing shoes, I only feel the inside of my shoe. When barefoot, I'm able to use the thousands of nerve endings and dozens of bones, joints and soft tissues in the foot and ankle to add or remove the slightest degree of acceleration or braking that is necessary. With shoes on, much of this sensation and movement is limited or eliminated, and then I must use only larger groups of bones, joints and muscles to make adjustments. Essentially, if you can feel the pedals better and exert only the exact pressure necessary, you will use only the gas you need and save fuel over time. Think of it as kind of very intelligent cruise control.

Based on all this, I have a few thoughts on my results and what they mean for the "bigger picture."

• Was this experiment scientifically valid and can we make solid scientific conclusions based on this information? Absolutely NOT. Don't flame me because I didn't do this or that to conduct a proper scientific experiment. This was a test conducted by one person in one car with two tanks of gas. I'm no Mythbuster. That said...
• This data and my previous experiences driving shod vs. barefoot all do point in the direction that driving barefoot does provide better gas mileage. Though I've never kept solid numbers except for this experiment, I can tell you that I notice an uptick in my mileage the more often I drive barefoot. I really do think there's something to this.
• A person who begins driving barefoot after using regular (read: non-minimalist) footwear could see even bigger numbers than I did. Remember that I only wore minimalist footwear during the shod test. These types of shoes provide better ground feedback than regular shoes do, so it's not far fetched to say that going to barefoot from regular dress shoes or sneakers with thicker heels and less flexibility could show an even bigger improvement. Heck, there might even be cause to say that just switching to minimalist shoes for driving would provide it's own uptick in gas mileage.
• With current gas prices as high as we've seen them in three years, why not try whatever you can to save gas? If a combination of fuel-saving measures, including driving barefoot, can show at least some noticeable positive difference in mileage, it seems prudent to try them out and see what it can do for your pocketbook. Remember, driving barefoot is absolutely LEGAL.
• I really want to see someone scientifically study this. There's a lot of anecdotal evidence and vague postings out there to support the idea that driving barefoot saves gas, but my study is the closest thing to scientific analysis that I've seen on this topic. Maybe this very blog entry will spark some auto club or group to look further into this. I think it's safe to say that there's plenty of people who drive barefoot when flip flop weather comes around. Now let's see some real data to find out if they happen to be saving themselves money. Maybe I should ask the Mythbusters...

What do you think? Do you drive barefoot and, if so, have you gotten better gas mileage because of it? Can having direct skin-to-pedal contact really allow for finer sensation and adjustment of the pedals? If you disagree with my assertion that there's something to this, why so and what do you really think the difference is between driving shod or barefoot? Please leave your comments in the section below.