Slick 50 Settlement
From the Sept. 1997 issue of MOTOR magazine:

"SLICK 50 Settlement.

Three subsidiaries of Quaker State Corp. have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that ads for Quaker State's Slick 50 engine treatment were false and unsubstantiated. According to the settlement, the companies will be barred from making certain claims and be required to have substantiation for claims about the products. Additionally, the settlement will preserve the Commission's option to seek consumer redress if class action suits currently being litigated against Quaker State and its subsidiaries result in less than $10 million in consumer compensation.

In July 1996, the FTC issued a complaint against four Quaker State subsidiaries. (Those subsidiaries are now defunct, and have been succeeded in interest by the three subsidiaries named in the settlement.) The FTC's 1996 complaint charged that ads for Slick 50 claiming improved engine performance and reduced engine wear were deceptive and lacked substantiation.

The agreement to settle the FTC charges bars any claims that 1. engines lack protection from wear at startup unless they have been treated with
Slick 50 or a similar PTFE product; 2. engines commonly experience premature wear unless they are treated with Slick 50 or a similar product;
and 3. Slick 50 or a similar product coats engine parts with a layer of PTFE.

In addition, the agreement will prohibit misrepresentations that Slick 50 or any engine lubricant meets the standards of any organization andmisrepresentation about tests or studies.

The settlement also prohibits the three subsidiaries from making any claims about the performance, benefits, efficacy, attributes or use of engine lubricants unless they possess and rely on competent and reliable evidence to substantiate the claims. And finally, it holds open the option that the FTC may seek consumer redress. If the private class action suits against Slick 50 currently under litigation do not result in at least $10 million in redress to consumers, the agency reserves its right to file its
own federal district court action for consumer redress. The FTC has also reserved its right to seek to intervene in any class action suit to oppose
a settlement it believes is not in the public interest."

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