Engine off when gassing up?

I have experienced hundreds of static zap sparks on my past cars while the ignition was turned off. The triboelectric effect between my clothing and the seat fabric while exiting the vehicle is plenty sufficient to create the static for a later spark.

Now where is that service station surveillance video I posted a couple years ago of a young woman creating a gas pump fire from this very same clothing spark ...

 

I do not refute that smoking and static electricity do cause fires, but neither of those are a result of not shutting down the car completely. As for the diesels, last i checked they used glow plugs, which do not spark, they just get hot, so there is no zap of electricity going to them like with spark plugs. I am not saying any of you who always shut down are wrong for doing so, but I see it like this. If you jump out of an airplane, you could die, but people do it anyway. Maybe a bad analogy, but you get the point

But this was not necessarily because the car was running, it was due to her getting in the car then back out.

 

snopes.com: Static and Refueling Fires

 

I like to live life on the wild side. I have a wife, 2 kids, and 2 prius' so this is about as dangerous as I can get.

 

That is an excellent analogy, you are free to jump out of an airplane, but you aren't free to subject others to that risk by forcing everyone near you to jump with you.

 

Mea culpa, I read your post too fast. But as an electrical person, I'm still aware of too many other spark sources besides the ignition, and too many reasons for the Prius engine to fire up on its own accord, to trust leaving even the Prius ignition turned on.

Diesel fuel is considerably less volatile than gasoline, lowering the risk.

 

In NY they've removed the auto-fill feature on the pumps years ago so you must keep your hand on the pump handle depressing the lever continuously while pumping. That eliminates the possibility of static discharge from hand to pump while pumping gas. It's a pain- especially during cold weather, but well worth the temporary discomfort when you see what can happen with static discharges...

 

Fire from static discharge or smoking is different than leaving your engine running or READY. Yes, the engine creates a spark when it is turned over. But it is way over there, on the other end of your car.

For everyone who is so scared about the engine running while they are refueling, are you just as scared when the guy using the pump behind you parks kind of close (happens a lot here in SoCal since the pumps are pretty close together), finishes first, and starts up his car and leaves? Do you exclaim, OH NOES! how dare you start your engine so close to me while I'm refueling, what if your sparking engine starts a fire? Because his engine is probably closer in proximity to where you are refueling, than your own engine.

 

Not me.
Common sense.....isn't.
Probably one of the greatest threats to the survival of the human race is the fact that we're struggling furiously to eliminate the beneficial side effects of natural selection.

Uh....no. Not at all. Not even close.
Besides....If "no spark plug" meant "no detonation", then diesels wouldn't work very well...now would they?

 

Yup, "Common sense" is the sum of personal prejudices acquired by age 21. It doesn't imply wisdom.

 

they do that here in mass too, but luckily they make the gas cap just the right size to fit into the filler handle.

diesels do not use spark for detonation, they use the heat from the air and fuel mixture compressing. ever used one of those nitro rc cars? they run on the same principle, you have to heat up the glow plug initially, but after that, they just run by the fuel and air mixture. never any spark.

 

Isn't the Prius gas cap tethered to the car to prevent that (and to prevent forgetting it at the gas station)?

 

Don't forget to smoke a cigarette, play with matches, cook some BBQ and rub your socks together while at gas pumps too. *shut the car off!

 

In a diesel, the air is heated by compressing it, then the fuel is injected after the air (without fuel) is hot enough to cause combustion. Then fuel continues to be injected during the combustion process.

In a glow plug engine, the glow plug continues to glow from the heat caused by the catalytic reaction of methanol on the glow plug element, not from the air being compressed. In a glow plug engine the air-fuel mix is all present in the cylinder at the start of combustion. A very different process than a diesel.

 

If you decide to leave your engine on while fueling maybe take some time to vandalize all the signs at gas stations that tell you to turn your engine off while fueling because clearly you're right and they're wrong and you need to teach 'em a lesson, right?

 

but my engine is off. thats the point of this whole thread. a prius is different then other cars because it can be on with out the engine running. how is sitting in ready any different than sitting with the radio on in any normal car?

 

^ Because it may start up at any moment??