Petrol station visit

[GT Pony]

As I mentioned before, I do shut my engine off, and simply asked if there was a reliable source with confirmation and explanation that keeping the engine running presents a higher risk vs the risk of the spark from the starter motor brushes when restarting with all those fumes still present, and a media report is not what I consider a reliable source.

If the engine is running who knows if something associated with it running could generate static and/or some other spark source to occur - that's why they say to turn the engine off before refueling. While fueling the vehicle up is when there's the most potential for stray gas vapors to be present, so leaving the engine running during that time could increase the risk.

It might even pay to be slow to get back in the car so vapors can dissipate some from around the car before getting in and firing it back up. Back in the old days and stations that don't have vapor recovery nozzles, there would probably be more vapors floating around in the air while refueling.

It's kind of funny how people try to justify fueling up with the engine running and say it's "no big deal, it's actually safe" because it's not a common thing to see cars catch on fire at the gas station. There's a reason for all those warning statements posted at the gas stations, and they want to mitigate all potential sources of vapor ignition.

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