From the BBC website coverage of the over-by-over coverage of the ODI series:
BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew on Twitter:
"Put wrong fuel in car - petrol into diesel. Broken down on M1. In tow truck heading north. No chance of getting to The Oval"
That will be pricey... but shows how it can happen to anyone.
We bought a fuel angel, so won't happen to us.
England are playing two spinners at the oval- could be fiery!
BW,
Alex.
|
Only victim was the car, not the person who pays no attention to what they are doing.
Stupid is as stupid does.
|
It is very easily done.
One of my colleagues here did the same last Saturday ....15 litres of petrol into diesel , cost him 3 hours ( and £200 ) while his Citroen was collected by AA and taken to a garage and drained down.
The AA man reckoned he saw at least two misfuellings a week.
|
It is very easily done <<
Its very easy to keep ones eyes open when selecting which fuel you put in the car too.
The fact that it happens alot simply means that distinguishing between black and green, even with the helpful hint about which colour is which fuel written on the handle, is beyond alot of people. Scary given how complicated driving actually is.
My son who is three can distinguish between two different colours, which suggests that those who cannot, have lower abilities than a 3 year old. I wouldnt let him drive a car...
|
|
I agree, in almost 40 years of driving I have yet to put the wrong fuel into a car....I dismiss the time I put diesel into a hired van because after driving it all day I was certain it was running on diesel it was so slow and rough!
|
I agree, for over 12 years ive driven cars that needed 4 star, unleaded or deisel
Touch wood I have yet to misfuel becasue I take care over what im doing, ive always checked ive got the right nozzle for the right car. by checking ither colour of nozzle, what it says on the nozzle, and checking the label on the petrol cap and/or surrounding area - all that aprt from the fact i know what type of fuel my car is.
|
|
|
|
"Its very easy to keep ones eyes open when selecting which fuel you put in the car too. "
Humans make mistakes they are not computers or machines. As something becomes more familiar, we tend to notice less, we see thing as we believe they should be and not as they actually are.
We all make silly mistakes at some time, I suspect even you might have made a few.
A really good book on the subject is "Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average" by J T Hallinan which give a good insight into how the human mind works and why mistakes happen". It also very entertaining
|
|
|
|
Particularly as petrol pumps have small dia. nozzles and it's wriiten on the handle and usually on the car(if it's diesel).
|
|
The other give-away being the difference in smell... :)
|
|
As I am not perfect, and dont like being hurt in the wallet, I have an anti misfueling device fitted to my car. It has yet to pay for itself, but one stopped misfuel should do it. I fitted it after my BiL put £60 of unleaded in his diesel.
|
"It is very easily done"
It is also very easily NOT done.
|
Well, I think you are very unforgiving lot on here:)
I've done it and though female, I'm not a dizzy blonde either.
I had been away in the lorry all week filling it up with deisel.
I had just swapped a deisel Xantia for a petrol Mondeo.
I was tired and weary and wanted to go home.
I put deisel in the Mondeo.
It smelled right, it looked the right nozzle, after all it was what I'd been using for years.
The only saving grace was I stopped on the forecourt, as soon as the Mondie coughed, and I realised what I'd done ( I'd put in 12 gallons of derv).
I rang my local garage just around the corner, he came and towed me in and charged me £20 to drain the tank as long as he could have the 14 galls of Derv:)
I jumped at the chance and thoroughly enjoyed the next 10 miles 'booting it' as it belched out black smoke and coughed and spluttered.
So, it isn't always that simple!
Pat
|
It IS easily done, especially if the driver is used to a petrol car. I've done it and my wife has done it, luckily with no adverse effects on the car concerned. I also think if you're tired or pre-occupied you are more likely to misfuel.
A mate of mine in Surrey also did it a year or so ago (recently switched from petrol to diesel) and the AA towed the car to a garage that specialises in draining tanks etc following misfuelling incidents - and that's all they do, 24/7, according to my mate, so that gives you some idea of the scale of the misfuelling problem.
|
|
|
So, it isn't always that simple!
I agree. If a doctor can administer the wrong drugs to a patient in error or a pilot can fly an aircraft into a mountain despite warning from his navigation equipment it is easy to foresee that a driver with other things on his mind might use the wrong pump at a filling station
Since it does indeed happen fairly frequently it does proves the need for a foolproof system to prevent it.
Human beings make mistakes (apart from a few on here who possess the infallibility gene). It is ridiculous that such a potentially expensive problem as misfuelling was not "engineered out" years ago although I do understand that some manufacturers are attending to the issue albeit somewhat belatedly
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Apparenly its not easy to put diesel into a petrol car because of nozzle size but the other way round is very common. I've done it and it only takes a moment of concentration lapse to make the mistake.
|
Of course it's easily done - one every three and a half minutes - 150000 per year.
It's a nice little earner for the AA etc.
|
|
|
Test your skills of observation:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4
|
|
Yes it can happen to anybody, and if it was possible to bet £100 with Ladbroke's that it will, at some time, happen to one of the smug respondents here I wouldn't hesitate to lay the money.
|
My last petrol car went in 1993 but only the final pre trigger check stopped me putting unleaded in the Berlingo a couple of years ago.
|
I agree with Stunorthants. Whilst I can understand misfuelling if you are driving an unfamiliar vehicle, I cannot understand how someone can misfuel a car they've owned for years.
I drive a diesel. Even before I stop at a pump I'm already looking to see which diesel nozzle is free and won't inconvenience another driver (i.e drive to the nearest vacant pump at the front so no-one has to sqeeze past me or block me in).
I then get out of my car undo the cap. I look at the pump. I pick up nozzle i check nozzle (usually black and the handle is greasy and smells distinctly oily). When I hear the click as the display counter is re-set by the cashier, I then check to see where the little digital black line is against which fuel and price (diesel usually being higher priced but not always).
I then check once more before fuelling.
Now all the above may sound like a lot going on but the human brain is pretty adept at taking in vast amounts of information and processing is quickly. It takes seconds and does not inconvenience me in any way.
I absolutely cannot see how anyone misfuels and if they are that unobservant when performing a relatively simple task like that then god help their drving on the busy roads of the UK.
Simples
|
Simples
>>
I take it that you have never had an accident of any description, hurt yourself, damaged anything, or made a mistake?
|
|
I never said I was perfect O.N but misfuelling, well come on how daft is that?
|
|
I do similar checks, and have never come close to misfueling in 30 years of driving diesels, but I am not complacent.
|
|
|
|
I absolutely cannot see how anyone misfuels and if they are that unobservant when performing a relatively simple task like that then god help their drving on the busy roads of the UK.
Have you never made a mistake while performing *any* simple task?
Perhaps you are perfect (I honestly don't mean that in an insulting way) but clearly many, many people are not.
I always thought I would never misfuel, but I used a pay-at-pump station long enough after I switched from petrol to diesel that I was relaxed about it. The pump wouldn't take my card and, with a queue growing behin me, I found a card that would work, grabbed the nozzle and, thank Goodness, just as I squeezed the trigger I realised it was petrol and stopped at 7p.
|
|
|
|
|
Test your skills of observation: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4
But you are not expecting the bear. If you pull up at a fuel pump you are expecting to see a label telling you what kind of fuel it is.
|
|
|
|
|
|
surely the petrol giants with all their money, could make filling with the wrong fuel an impossibility
|
|
Why should they bother? A misfuled tank of fuel has to be replaced, thats more profit.
|
I've been lucky it hasn't happened to me either, but i double and triple check before squeezing the trigger.
|
I've now got a petrol car and a diesel one...must be vigilant :)
This is the second misfuelling I've seen first on twitter - the other being philip schofield. Comes in threes, hope Stephen Fry doesn't superunlead his taxi...
|
Well I did it last friday nine litres of petrol before I took a second take and stopped have to hold my hand up and say easy done.
Never thought I would ever do that but worst things happen no one got hurt or killed just my pride !
|
Ford have produced a technical solution called Easy Fuel, whereby it's only possible to put petrol into the fuel tank a petrol engined vehicle and diesel into the fuel tank a diesel engined vehicle.
All manufacturers need to follow Ford's example and design into their vehicles a technical solution that prevents misfueling, if they don't then it's we the public who need to either not buy their products or make a lot of noise until they resolve this ongoing issue.
In the meantime there are a number of products on the market that can be fitted to help prevent misfueling, for example Caparo RightFuel.
|
"
if they don't then it's we the public who need to either not buy their products or make a lot of noise until they resolve this ongoing issue"
I guess the problem is that people just don't think that they would ever do it themselves and so there is little demand for misfuelling prevention devices.
|
my wife is blonde and she has not (yet) Mis-fuelled the diesel car.
And that's saying something !
Maybe its a first thing in the morning thing when most people are still tired, I don't know
|
|
|
|
|
"Victim" is completely the wrong word, because its self-inflicted.
|
To err is human.
But not spending appx £80 in mis-fuel prevention device is folly.
|
Misfuels happen too often to put them down simply to idiocy on the part of the motorist.
Pump islands that offer unleaded/super unleaded/diesel and sometimes super diesel as well are a major part of the problem, in my view.
I'm sure that if an island offered only diesel or petrol, misfuels would decrease dramatically.
Although I expect such an arrangement would also dramatically reduce the capacity of the filling station to serve customers, leading to longer queues.
Or bring back attendants. :)
|
... or have separate filling stations for diesel and petrol...
...or do away with diesel or petrol engines....
...or simply think about what you are doing when filling up!!!... :-)
btw I thought I saw something at the garage the other day for £4.99 which prevented misfuelling.
|
|
Thankfully I have never done this. My final check before squeezing the trigger is to look at the price on the pump I am using. Fuels at a garage all seem to differ in price and if the pump price is the same as the signed price I saw when I drove in then I reckon I am okay.
|
|
|
|
"Victim" is completely the wrong word, because its self-inflicted."
Surely you can be a victim of your own folly Mr Snail
|
|
if a driver is not concentrating sufficiently when refuelling, and makes a serious mistake, you have to wonder what's sort of error he or she could (absent mindedly) make when driving on the road in much tenser conditions.
|
>>you have to wonder what's sort of error he or she could (absent mindedly) make when driving on the road in much tenser conditions.
Yet another hostage to fortune. Good luck.
|
|
These people who never have, and never will, make a mistake must live on a planet not occupied by humans. :-)
|
|
|
|
if a driver is not concentrating sufficiently when refuelling and makes a serious mistake you have to wonder what's sort of error he or she could (absent mindedly) make when driving on the road in much tenser conditions.
I aim to concentrate fully on the road when driving. Once I have parked and switched off the engine, I am no longer in control of a few tonnes of metal proceeding a speed sufficient to kill people, so I relax.
You seem to advocate that drivers should maintain the same concentration at all times, rather than assessing which situations need the highest levels of attention. I'd be rather worried about the safety of a driver who didn't adjust her levels of concentration according to the circumstances.
|
To start this post with a clear explanation as to who I am, I invented FuelSure, I respect the site and its contributors as I do John?s columns for giving technical advice to non technical motorist which helps them avoid some of the pitfalls of the motoring world ? I have not chosen to get a ?friend? to post smoothing regarding our product, and I have not taken the first opportunity to abuse the site for advertising so I have included the competitor device names as well to be fair. Any manufacturer of these restrictors can post the same as I have and defend their invention - I would simply ask that potential purchases of restrictor devices consider the points that I have made when making their choices ? a choice the should be well informed, this being the basis of Johns popularity.
What makes FuelSure different it that it is not a restrictor device, it does not affect the breathing function of the tank, and most importantly it maintains the safety earth connection required by Thatcham to prevent static build-up in the nozzle and therefore possible explosion.
When we were designing the unit we considered a key locking version but our experience is that most, if not all, fuel theft nowadays if from cutting the fuel lines under the car or puncturing the tank (fuel thieves don?t like a mouthful of diesel) so a locking version would add cost and complexity without giving any useful protection ? all current OEM caps and flaps that lock can easily be defeated with a screwdriver. The thief would not know that your car was fitted with FuelSure because the unit is covered by the outer flap so they would probably go for the above technique. Perversely if you car was attacked and the Fuelsure was removed to siphon the diesel out your repair will is likely to be lower because you would not need to replace a broken fuel cap, cut fuel line or punctured fuel tank.
You may trust you husband, wife, girlfriend, son, daughter, hairdresser, nanny, brother, neighbour, even your dog to put the right fuel in your car? but do you trust yourself?
Edited by Honestjohn on 16/09/2009 at 15:25
|
To start this post with a clear explanation as to who I am I invented FuelSure
All of which is much what you posted in another thread: www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=78151&...e
I was sufficiently impressed with your explanation there that I bought a FuelSure for my diesel camper, and defended you against those who thought you were just advertising. However, posting again, and listing al your other products does look to me like an attempt to get free advertising.
|
I had just swapped a deisel Xantia for a petrol Mondeo.
I put deisel in the Mondeo.
I understood that a diesel nozzle was larger than a petrol nozzle, and hence you couldn't get a diesel nozzle into a petrol car filler neck. I've never had a diesel car and never bought diesel fuel so perhaps I'm wrong. What's the diameter of a petrol nozzle and a diesel nozzle?
|
|
|
|
|
3604's posting removed pending a decision from HJ.
|
What I have done is unlock 3604's posting defending his product, but remove the list of other products he had inserted into it, which are not relevant to his argument and which would have constituted advertising for them. Fair enough?
HJ
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
