Hi Marcus4450,

New member and your 1st Post, soooo Welcome to Club Lexus!

 

Welcome to Club Lexus Marcus4450

 

it sounds overly cautious to me, perhaps if someone spilled a ton of gas to where it vapored and touched a car that was running

 

Is there any such thing as being too cautious when you are dealing wth a possible explosion?

MeThinks not.

 

I'll have specific responses later, but from what I'm quickly gathering I'm taking it a lot of you turn your cars off and lock them while you're filling up? To me that's kind of insane.

That crime map is just flat wrong, West Knox county is extremely safe. Knoxville didn't burn in 2020, at all. Big cities like Washington did. There is crime here of course but that map is not accurate. It's got the richest parts of town off the lake, all the best parts of West Knoxville as the deepest red, labeling those areas the absolute most dangerous. Wrong. Then in the inner-city areas where it really is bad are rated the same or even better. That's just not accurate.

I live here, I grew up here. I don't anymore but I used to leave my car running going into gas stations, everyone did. I live in a very safe area, I can assure y'all. However the city is too big now, I don't feel comfortable leaving my car running to go into the gas station. It is worth noting that my cars are much nicer these days, lol. So there is that.

I don't remember my filling up behavior being any different in Los Angeles, though hellllll no I'd never leave my car running to run in the gas station. I'm sort of shocked that many of you lock your cars up while you're standing there filling up. How dangerous is it out there??? Now obviously, I'm not going to go down to the slums of the city or even the other parts of town and be carefree like this, but I'm just telling y'all how it is here.

Bottom line is your car isn't going to blow up if you leave it running while you refill. All those YouTube examples were of crime, not cars blowing up because they didn't shut the ignition off. People texting and emailing in cars, I'd be willing to bet a fair amount of you do that. Much more dangerous than me sitting in my running comfy warm/cool car while it fills up. I never text and drive, I always pull over. Not giving myself any badges, just trying to provide perspective.

 

I turn mine off but don’t lock it, as I’m standing right next to it. I have no need to leave it running while I refuel.

 

Always off, always locked when at the pump (unless I got somebody with me). I'd never heard of anybody refueling with the car running until now.

 

The people have spoken, I am defffffinitely in the minority here.

Someone mentioned they top off, I never do that. It’s not going to kill the car but it’s not great for it. When it stops, it’s done. Don’t pump anymore. I feel a lot of people don’t know this.

 

It (could) kill the Evaporative Canister for the fuel system if raw gas soaks the element, although that probably will not be a problem unless you live in an area, like I do, where vehicles have to be emissions-inspected every couple of years. I think that is one of the components they check.

 

Its not an area that has a reputation for being high crime.

No, I just turn it off and keep the keys with me. If I walk into the store and leave it sitting there I lock it.

Its accurate, crime statistics aren't wrong, they document the number of crimes and compare it to the population and they come up with a statistic. Its just math.

It CAN blow up, but its extremely extremely unlikely I agree. My main concern is with theft of the car not with the car exploding or catching fire when its filling up. People steal cars like that all the time.

 

same here. Never heard before.

When I had Lexus, I never locked because I was there. But now I do lock because I have go around on the passenger side to pump. I’m glad there’s sensor on my back door.

 

dramatic much? explosion requires containment of vapors. Gasoline vapors is what ignites, not liquid form. Your car has a chance of exploding tomorrow, why bother to drive it. You need a massive release of gasoline to create a dangerous enough vapor cloud for an actual explosion. I bet people still believe you can blow up a car shooting at its gas tank with a gun like in a movie.

 

It could, but why not do something simple and comply with the law and turn it off to improve your safety?

We protect ourselves from lots of stuff that is very unlikely to happen every day.

 

my main concern for turning the vehicle off is carjacking target and wasting fuel idling, not an explosion. Dont be surprised if that rule is a relic of when cars used to have more open ignition systems, arcing risks, and not as tightly sealed fuel systems. Not anymore with more modern cars.

 

I totally agree...