Hybrid Vehicle Crash Tests, Credit Scores Not on Report, Hotel Card Keys, Vegetables In Vegetable Oil, Gas Mileage With Air Conditioning, Hurricane Names: 9/30/05

Q: I received an e-mail saying plastic hotel key cards are embedded with personal information, like your name, and credit card number and that information is not erased until the card is re-issued to another hotel guest. The e-mail says consumers should keep and destroy plastic key cards instead of returning them to the hotel. Is this e-mail true?

A: We contacted the American Hotel and Lodging Association for your answer. It says, many of its members use magnetic-strip room key cards and according to the manufacturers of these devices, room key cards capture information through three embedded and encrypted tracks.

Most hoteliers use track number 3. It contains locked information such as the guest's room number and check in, check out dates. The remaining tracks, number one and two, if used by the hotels management system can have additional limited guest information. The Lodging Association says this data is normally a number or name to identify guests at point-of-sale terminals located throughout the hotel.

It says plastic hotel key cards do NOT supply guests' personal information such as credit card numbers, home address, or e-mail addresses. So please return the plastic hotel key cards when you check out.

Q: Why doesn't your credit score appear on your credit report?

A: We contacted credit expert Evan Hendricks for your answer, he says, a recent amendment to the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act requires each of the nationwide consumer reporting companies to provide consumers with a free copy of your credit report, at your request, once every 12 months but going to annualcreditreport.com.

However, the law does NOT require credit reporting agencies to give consumers free credit scores. The law states consumers can request their credit score and credit reporting agencies can charge a fair and reasonable price. Most charge between six and seven dollars, and Hendricks says this is an improvement because in the past, .credit scores were kept confidential.

Q: Has the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety conducted crash tests on hybrid vehicles?

A: We contacted the Institute for your answer. And it says, it has not performed rash tests on hybrid vehicles because, up until recently, hybrids were considered, niche vehicles with limited popularity. However with the increasing popularity of these cars, crash test will probably be conducted in the future.

Q: What happens if there are more than 21 named tropical storms in a hurricane season?

A: We contacted the National Weather Service for your answer. It says, in the event that more than 21 named tropical storms occur in the Atlantic basin in a single season, additional storms will take names from the Greek alphabet, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, etceteras.

Other regions, such as the North Pacific and the Australian coast, use names in sequential order, so once the end of the list is reached, the name at the top of the next list is used. Since the list of names began for the Atlantic basin in 1950, the closest the National Weather Service has come to the end of the alphabet was, Hurricane Tanya in 1995.

Q: I bought a box of Snicker Doodles. Pure vegetable shortening was listed on the nutritional facts panel. What vegetables make up vegetable oil?

A: We contacted the food marketing institute for your answer. It says, Vegetable shortening is a solid fat made from vegetables such as soybean and cottonseed oil. It can be used to substitute for other fats such as lard or butter and vegetable shortening can be stored at room temperature for up to a year. Crisco is an example of vegetable shortening, it uses a blend of sunflower soybean and cottonseed oils.

Q: What decrease in miles-per-gallon can a driver expect if the air conditioner is on versus off?

A: We contacted Auto Expert, Pat Goss for your answer. Goss says, the percentage of decrease in miles per gallon depends on several factors, the model year, design, and size of the vehicle. Unlike older cars, most newer cars are more efficient so you may not see as big a change in miles per gallon when using the air conditioner.

When using the car's air conditioner cars may lose about a mile per gallon. Goss says SUV's and larger vehicles will lose less gas when using the air conditioner while smaller cars tend to lose more gas, This is because the aerodynamics of a car also plans an important role in fuel efficiency, In some cases the air flow through the windows can create drag, and that can cause a greater loss in miles per gallon.