- Volvo introduced the oxygen sensor in 1976, and federal law mandated their use in 1981. Located on the exhaust manifold, oxygen sensors monitor oxygen levels, relaying them to an on-board computer. Too little oxygen burned, leanness, or too much oxygen burned, richness, interfere with vehicle performance.
- Adding ethanol to gasoline increases octane roughly 2 to 3 points. As of 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulates the ethanol level in fuel to 10 percent. In a May 2010 article in "The New York Times," Matthew L. Wald reported that the EPA was considering increasing ethanol levels to 15 percent.
- Ethanol fuel blends don't damage oxygen systems, according to 1999 research conducted by Nexum Research Corporation. Even fuel blends with higher ethanol concentrations, from 17 to 20 percent, still performed properly. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory states that other research shows higher levels of ethanol raise the oxygen level above what the sensor can detect, leaving the power control module unable to calibrate fuel-mixture levels.
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