WASHINGTON - A new study by the research firm Charles River Associates (CRA) casts doubts on recent allegations made by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) against Toyota Motor Credit Corp. and American Honda Finance Corp. concerning disparate impact in the pricing of auto loans, reported the NADA.

Among the CRA study’s key findings was that, when measuring whether such unintentional discrimination has occurred, the CFPB overestimates the number of minority consumers by as much as 41 percent and the pricing differences between minority and non-minority consumers by as much as 87 percent.

CRA noted that several factors (which appear to be completely ignored by the CFPB) further account for pricing differences which are completely unrelated to a consumer’s background.

CRA also noted that while the CFPB’s own study into its testing methodology reveals a significant overestimation of minority populations, the CFPB still does not explain whether or how it corrects for this flaw. Such failings can produce significant distortions and inaccuracies in the CFPB testing results, and should be fully explained by the CFPB before it relies upon them to support an allegation of discrimination.

The study examined the accuracy and reliability of the method used by the CFPB to test for unintentional disparate impact discrimination in an auto lender’s portfolio. After examining 8.2 million auto finance contracts, CRA concluded in its comprehensive report that the CFPB’s testing method is “subject to significant bias and estimation error.”

The CRA study was commissioned by the American Financial Services Association and released on November 19. The allegations made against the automakers’ captive finance companies were publically disclosed on November 25 and December 2, respectively.