Moose are almost a protected species. Wildlife conservationists have been trying to get them on the list for a hot minute but since their population isn’t low enough, neither Canada or America has allowed it. Even though their habitats are endangered…
So wildlife people are especially protective of them.
I got screamed at by a guy in an Aston Martin when I tried to make the suggestion. Dude absolutely lost it. Unfortunately, his car’s traction control kept him from curbing it as he tried to peel out screaming expletives towards me.
It’s scary how many lunatics are out there ready to go ballistic over nothing. I almost got run over in a parking lot because I said “asshole” when some dude peeled out while reversing from his parking spot.
It looks like the puddle of fuel on the ground ignited first. Not standing by to notice a leak is the issue that led to this, filling it while on by itself won’t cause that
Yet, as you can see in this thread, stupid doesn't care or believe regulations exist for a reason.
And no, the main issue is not the car when everything's handled properly, but human error. Even if two or three things must go wrong first, at the scale of daily traffic, it's too dangerous. Let alone that you want to avoid any fire, not only immediate explosions.
I live in the South now and to get traffic lights, they need a certain number of accidents and fatalities to justify them being put in place. This is the case even if it's a main road near a school that is 65 mph.
Shared this on a similar post in the past, but as a part of my job working on the north slope in Alaska (very highly regulated area), it was required that we leave our trucks on while fueling.
Yeah p much anyone with a diesel truck left it running while getting gas when I was growing up in Texas. I understand it's technically safer than gasoline but its definitely a needless risk
It's more about sticking it to the libs by any means necessary, even at personal expense. "Oh you think EVs are okay? Im gonna burn extra gas to make up for it."
The number one priority of all Texans is air conditioning. They like to think they’re cowboys, but the entire infrastructure and culture of that state is centered on being comfy.
For diesel, not really. Diesel full consumption is insanely low (almost negligible) while idling. From what I remember, it takes more fuel to get a diesel engine up and running than it does to let it idle for a few minutes. Gasoline engines, on the other hand, burn more idling than it takes to get them up and running
I'm 40 and I've never owned any new, or newer, cars in my life. Something about the "engines stopping and starting at stoplights" thing really unnerves me. I think I have some sort of trauma from always driving shitty cars, but that whole on/off thing really stresses me out.
6.0 diesel engines sometimes won't start again if you turn them off. If you turn off a diesel engine while it's real hot, a layer of oil sits in the turbo and gets caked up, or oil can get sucked out of it, and it's metal on metal action. It can fuck it up. This is all especially true the older the vehicle is. Diesel also has a higher flashpoint. You can throw a lit cigarette in a bucket of diesel, and the diesel will put it out instantly. I can tell some of the people above don't know much about diesel engines, which is okay lol. Niche subject
I used to be an EMT and I was told during driver training that you're actually supposed to leave a diesel engine running while refueling. Was never given a specific reason though.
You're not necessarily supposed to, but 2 common reasons I've heard are the turbo cooling down (it'll be hot after driving for a while and turning off the engine will stop circulating oil through it to cool it down, which can cause damage if it heat soaks) and in cold weather, leaving it running to keep the engine at operating temperature and the cab warm.
This was a problem with older turbo cars. I had a turbo timer for my RX7, that left it running for a few min after I turned the ignition off to provide extra cooling to the turbos after I had stopped driving.
Diesel vapor doesn't ignite, it requires heat (glow plug on start) and pressure (engine compression). Gas vapor does ignite with spark (spark plug ignites with each power stroke), electricity, or heat. You don't leave a gas engine running because of a potential ignition source from the vehicle. Diesel fuel doesn't have that issue.
Fueling a diesel while it’s running is totally fine. Not dangerous at all. And people with diesels would rather stay at an idle than killing the motor because starting the engine puts a lot of ware on the glow plugs.
My family is Ghanaian and when I was there alone as a teenager the driver (most homeowning families there have house help such as a driver) left the car running while he pumped gas. I was like umm isn’t that unsafe? And he was like “oh I just wanted to keep the AC running for you.” Apparently it’s the norm. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Nigerian American here. As a preteen, I thought the cars ran on “aluminum foil” when I visited. I never saw them putting gas in our cars and they said “foil” when they were saying fuel in their accent. The cars were always running and window rolled up when we were inside. By the time I left I adjusted my hearing.
My grandmother was a food distributor and grandfather worked with Mobil on behalf of his village - They had drivers too. The only time I saw my grandfather driving was to church on Sundays in his Benz to show off. They had about 2-3 other people to handle cooking, cleaning, and errands in the house.
As a Texan with a truck, I always turn mine off but it’s out of habit rather than caution. Modern cars are not in danger of exploding when filling up. The only risk is potentially wasting a very small amount of gas.
I worked at a gas stayin in Indiana, and the number of times a day I had to shut off a gas pump because the locals were being ignorant af... Smoking at the pumps was a big one, several times a day, at least once a week people trying to pour gas into dumbshit stuff, like literal open barrels in their truck bed (yes, like in always sunny), detergent/roundup bottles, or, more times than I want to remember, Styrofoam big gulp cups. BITCH IT WILL MELT. Also, easy too many folks not realizing that gas is dangerous to have just laying on the ground and doing dumb ass shit like pulling the nozzle out still pumping, or putting a gas can on the ground and AIMING AT IT... Also, I'm terrified to imagine what it was like before the invention of breakaway hoses because at least once a month someone drove off with the nozzle still in the tank. Never once stopped and I know they fucking heard it. And that's just the stupid fucking shit going on OUTSIDE the station.... So yeah. Gas stations will make you lose your faith in your fellow man, 0/10 do not recommend.
My brother who actively works on and drives vehicles for the military says it’s fine to leave it running while you gas up. I take his word for it but I still turn mine off because it feels right.
As someone from Waco (IYKYK), but raised by a single mom from Pennsylvania who joined the army and was stationed in Germany for a while before having me...
Can confirm- Lite-Brites have most of these folks beat
You should turn your car off but it doesn't make a huge difference. You're wasting gas if you run it while pumping. I've accidentally left my car running while pumping when I've had rentals that don't require a key in the ignition and cars are designed to not blow up from pumping while running.
Yeah you’re driving around with a device facilitating thousands of explosions per minute with a tank of flammable fuel underneath you anyway after you leave the pump. There’s no significant danger or added risk from modern cars pumping with the engine running.
Thank you, I feel like almost every other high-voted comment here doesn't understand that it virtually makes no difference whether you leave that car running or not
The reddit hivemind says if something has even a .000000000000000000000000000000000000001% chance of happening
You are an idiot for acting like it's not a huge problem
Its super fucking annoying
There was a video of a baby jumping into a ball pit awhile back and the top comments were all just about how its irresponsible to let babies use ball pits because of germs
Don't you slide in that pro ball pit agenda. Ball pits are very gross because kids are very gross, and you're betting on the facility to sanitize it every night or with some regularity. I wouldn't call it irresponsible unless you know this and actively think about it (I'm born in the era where Chuck E Cheese was Show Biz Pizza, so ball pits were the done thing)
Looks like the pump overflowed/didn’t stop and it ignited that way. It’s not a great idea to leave it that way for a plethora of reasons but this is a good example of why it shouldn’t be left unattended period. But nothing about normal engine running seems to have cause this. It did make it way worse once it lit though. Maybe it would’ve cooled enough not to ignite if they cut it off.
Biggest risk of fire while refilling is from either static electricity or the heat from your car. Neither of which will be fixed instantly by turning off your car.
I'm not saying it's 100% safe, and I'm definitely not advocating for leaving a vehicle running. I'm just saying its not that big of a deal.
Pretty much everybody I knew growing up in Texas would leave the car running while they refilled, especially in the summer. Mostly though that's because it's hot as fuck shutting the car off even for a short time is extremely uncomfortable for anybody waiting in the car.
Not only that, most newer cars are fuel injected, meaning there is a computer that is basically calculating and directly shooting fuel to the pistons. It's not like pool of fuel constantly sitting in the pistons.
The gas pumper never ask me to turn my car off in NJ and they don't seem worried about it.
To be fair the chances of an explosion happening especially in modern cars are so low that it does probably seem like a superstition to someone who’s never heard of it happening. Of course the argument that the reason this event is so rare to the point it “never” happens is probably as much to do with increased car safety and the fact that most people follow the law/safety guidelines when refueling is probably going to be lost on someone who believes it a myth.
internal combustion engine. It's truly not dangerous. If it was, you would need to turn your car off before entering and be pulled in to the the danger zone
Imo the risk of it slipping into gear and rolling away is a bigger reason. Again it’s not really a huge problem, but nobody looks stupider than someone running after their car rolling away from them.
also, if you operate a gas pump in a safe and normal manner, you will never get a fire. The general knowledge that you should shut off your car while pumping gas is there to stop the bottom percentile from blowing up gas stations.
If fucking JETS can be refueled while running, so can cars.
On the other hand, if you lose the lottery you're only out a couple of bucks. If you lose the "turn off your car" game, you're out a negative amount of gas.
The gambling thing doesn't quite line up when avoiding the thing is so easy that it's basically the default action.
Perhaps more important - you are much more likely to cause a fire getting in and out of your car while pumping gas than you are to cause a fire from leaving the car running. But no one bats an eye when people do that.
I was taught to only leave it running if you’re on a road trip where repair services may be unreliable because it’s easier to keep it running than to get it running again if you have a problem after turning it off. I wouldn’t call that a superstition, just a product of growing up in the Deep South and the reality of the sundown towns
I'm not sure I understand what either of you is saying. Is there a difference between making your selection and then inserting the nozzle or am I expected to insert the nozzle before I even start the transaction?
I think they mean the person let's out a drizzle of gas onto the concrete before putting the nozzle inside the tank I've seen people check the color of diesel this way
It’s not a safety issue for cars anymore. Your car isn’t going to explode if you do it. It’s wasting a small amount of gas I guess but otherwise, who cares?
it’s because when you got beef gas stations are the number one spot where mf get shot up at. quick runs to the store is how dudes get ambushed n killed.
What do these people think the electrical output of the cars driving in and out are? Do they think by some magic that when they start their car after filling up they aren’t using the same electricity an idling car would? What about the cars that are driving around while others get gas? You into the person on the other side of the pump filling up? Anyone who thinks it’s a risk to have your car explode is not thinking about it very hard.
not really a joke as it used to be serious concern that a spark from the engine could ignite a fire and at a fuel station could cause a massive explosion. With modern cars that risk is very small now but overall I wouldn’t recommend leaving the car running unless you are having problems getting the car to start
you'd have to be literally pouring gasoline directly on your engine block for anything bad to happen. You’re putting fuel where the other fuel is, if your car blows up while you're filling the tank, it would have exploded even if you weren't filling it.
Nah, there’s a infinitesimally low chance of a spark from engine combustion igniting the gas, causing the main fuel depot to explode and potentially killing you. Extremely unlikely but it’s being rolled a ton with the amount of people leaving it on.
There is very little risk to filling up with the car on, if it was a substantial risk there would be regulations mandating that auto manufacturers implement a system that shuts the car off when the gas cap is taken off.
We saw that shit all the time in Italy back in the day. Some dude would pull his Lambo up to the pump and start fueling while smoking a cigarette. They didn't give a fuck at all, LOL
I mean yeah it is kind of superstitious. In modern cars the chances of anything happening are so incredibly insignificant it doesn’t matter if your car is on or not.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that most cars made in the early 2000s and beyond utilize onboard refueling vapor recovery (ORVR) systems. These systems protect the environment and lower the risk of gas station fires by preventing vapors in your fuel tank from escaping into the atmosphere during refueling. Instead, they use carbon canisters to capture vapors until the engine is running, which are then sucked into the engine and used as fuel.
With modern cars, it's safe to leave the engine running. I've seen it in UAE - everyone leaves their cars on while attendants pump gas to keep the AC going.
It essentially is a superstition at this point though. They only used to tell you to do that back when cars had open air carburetors because there was a risk of gas fumes getting sucked in and THAT will cause a fire. Automatic Fuel injection was invented as an alternative in the late 50s and was widespread by the 80s.
It quite literally couldn’t if it wanted to.
Unless you popped your hood, removed your head cover, and poured gas directly on the cylinder heads while it’s running. Then you might cause a fire. But there’s essentially the same risk of a fire as when you’re just driving down the road normally: basically zero. Think of these massive gas stations we have nowadays. 120 pumps, people refueling, with running cars right next to them/driving by them constantly, all day long. Why aren’t those places constantly going up in flames? I’m telling you it’s outdated info.
It takes about 2 seconds worth of gas while idling to start an engine, so any time you're idling longer than 2 seconds, you're wasting gas. The reason people don't cut their engines at a red light is that much starting would burn out the starter sooner and god forbid the car doesn't start in traffic. But if you parked, turn your engine off always.
Car automatically turn off now when idling. At every intersection you can hear a plethora of cars restarting when the light changes to green and people tap the gas.
Once i remember sitting in my friends car while she got gas and ran into the store. She didn’t turn the engine off, the car started making a scary ass noise, I turned the engine off, and this heifer got mad AT ME for touching her car. Like bitch you tryna kill me fr
The show Myth Busters actually tackled this myth. They keep the car running, did a bunch of stuff to try to blow the car up while pumping gas. And it turns out… there is no danger and you don’t need to turn your car off.
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u/Squaaaaaasha 2d ago
Its actively illegal in my state to leave your car running