PIP Reliability

The cable stop had simply slipped out of its housing meaning that no matter how hard I tugged the lever it wasn't ever going to open.

In the honourable tradition of the bone idle/mildly miffed I checked I had enough fuel/charge, flounced off home and called Toyota Assist to tell them to come and make my broken car better

 

Your PIP has a cable release? What country are you in?

 

UK - I was wondering about your comment v-a-v a solenoid failing!

 

The USA has a different emissions system, so the door is opened by a push button controlled solenoid. There's a display on the instrument panel that counts down to when you can start filling the car. If it fails, there's a little panel you open inside the back that releases the filler door.

 

The idea is that normally the gasoline system is sealed to minimize gasoline vapors from evaporation. One obviously has to break that seal to fuel the car, and the button on the instrument panel that controls opening the door to the fuel filler is part of that system. As mentioned, there is a manual fuel door release on the rear inside in case the automatic system fails.

 

This is a video about the Volt fueling system, but it's basically the same reason why you have a fueling event when you gas up a PIP.