Every damn car I’ve owned for the last two decades (all two of them) has had a fuel door that had to be opened from inside the car. This serves two purposes, preventing siphoning, and preventing intentional fuel contamination.
When I bought an insight I assumed (yes, I know what they say about that) that this usually standard feature would be included. It’s not. Anyone can open the door and then take the cap off.
I understand that they were trying to keep the cost down, but I’d have paid a couple more bucks for this feature.
So now I’ll have to buy a locking gas cap and have one more fucking key on my fucking keychain (I had to get one or two "fucking"s in there. This is the pit.)
I think they got confused and simply put it on the Insight when they meant to put it on the inside. Do you have inside information about cost considerations being responsible, or was that just your insight? Perhaps you have a cite for it? In any case, I do understand that not having an in situ fuel door lock is the type of thing that can incite Insight owners.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to siphon gas from a late model car? You need a special smaller sized Oklahoma credit card that fits the reducer in the neck. Then you’ve got to suck slower because the different diameter allows for faster filling. Then you’ve got to wash your mouth out. And spit, and spit and spit… And the flavor of the unleaded vs the leaded is terrible. :mad: You think it’s fun getting gas this way
(oh, and when I was young, I worked at a “service station” where we had to “remove” gas from people who “forgot their wallet again,” that’s how I know.)
My 2007 Fit Sport doesn’t have a locking cap or door either, nor does my husband’s 2002 VW, so I’d say they’re definitively not standard equipment. At least, not on non-American cars. Actually, I don’t know that they’re standard on American cars, either–I’m not sure that my parents’ Buick has one either.
And what kind of hellhole do you live in that this is an issue, anyway? I’ve not only never had any gas theft or tampering, I’ve never even known someone who knew someone who had.
No, I wasn’t aware that it’s more difficult today, since I have no experience with siphoning gas. Thank you for the info, Morgenstern (what is an “Oklahoma credit card?”). So maybe it’s something I shouldn’t worry about.
I’m also aware that my little car with it’s 10 gallon tank won’t be much of a target for gas thieves when there are honking big SUVs with 2 or 3 times as much gas nearby.
There’s still the issue of some assclown contaminating the fuel in some way but I imagine that’s unlikely.
I think when the OP is saying “locking fuel door” he’s including fuel doors that have a release inside the car.
Having said that, is having your fuel siphoned out really a problem? I can’t say it’s ever happened to me or anyone I know. Also, on the Insight, you can’t tell from the outside that it’s not a remote release door. You’d have to know. Not that a gas thief wouldn’t know this, but I’m sure plenty of them don’t. Besides there’s plenty of cars where it’s obvious you don’t need access to the inside of the car to siphon the gas out.
Also, it’s possible that the remote release system weighs more. With the Insight I never got the feeling they were trying to keep the cost down, but keeping the weight down is important on a car where they’re selling MPG.
No kind of hellhole at all, but I did live through the 70s gas shortages when stealing gas was pretty common and it’s not impossible that something similar could happen again. Every car I and family members have owned in recent decades had a cover that had to be opened from inside the car so it struck me as odd that this car didn’t have it.
However Morgenstern tells me that it’s difficult to siphon from a late model car so I guess it’s not a concern.
Oklahoma credit card is a short piece of hose and a 5 gallon gas can.
I wouldn’t worry about someone stealing gas. With the smaller hose, it takes a long time to get a few gallons. Just park in well lit areas.
Fuel contamination isn’t really a problem unless someone is out to get you then there are many things that s/he could do to a car you couldn’t detect until it was too late. So why bother. We won’t go there though.
Forget the locking cap. You’ll lose the keys or the lock will break. Used to be that stations had mech on duty with tools when that happened. Good luck finding that today. You’ll be there at the pump, with 0 fuel in your tank, a locked filler neck, scratching your head about what to do next.
NOTE: if that ever happens, DO NOT use anything that might cause a spark while getting it off. Like hammer and chisel.
Every single time I’ve pulled into a full service station to gas up my Fit, the attendant stands there waiting for me to open the fuel door from the inside. They always look sheepish when I get out, walk up to them, and push the door to open it.
However, I would expect any regular siphoner of gas to know that Honda fuel doors open when you push them. But are there any such people?
I would think that it would become common knowledge among such people pretty quickly. However I suppose that it is true that their first target would be something with a bigger gas tank.
But if they have to choose between a bigger gas tank that’s difficult to get to and a smaller one they know pops right open, they may go for the easier pickings.
Not that 10 gallons of stolen gas would be the end of the world, but it would certainly be an inconvenience if they left me with an empty tank. I don’t think an insight will start and run on just the battery. It’s not designed to run purely electric.
As you point out, there probably aren’t large numbers of professional siphoners running around.
I live in a large metro area. Gas theft has evolved over the years. Thieves either drive off from the gas station without paying or take someone’s vehicle and cash.
But to take fuel from modern vehicles, siphoning is old school. Put all the locking caps on that you want. Thieves simply punch a hole in the tank and drain what they want.
If the locking fuel doors that have been on my cars over the years were typical, it’d take about 1.5 seconds to break one open with a screwdriver. If I decided I was going to steal your gasoline, it wouldn’t bother me a bit to damage your fuel door as well.
I drive an American car (Pontiac Grand Prix, 2004) that doesn’t have a latch on the fuel door. In fact, I don’t think I’ve driven a car as an adult that did have one - I think the old Buick I had as a teenager did have a lever on the inside, and my parents’ Town Cars do. (And it’s not a labelled lever!) But they’re hardly standard.
Huh. I’ve had one car in my lifetime that had a remote release. In the winter it would tend to freeze up and refuse to swing open, and I’d have to pull the lever, hop out and walk around the car to see if it had unlatched, walk back and try again, lather, rinse, repeat. One February it froze shut completely, and the gas station attendant and I had to team up to pry it open with a screwdriver while pulling the release lever from inside the car.
It should pretty much go without saying that I never had this problem with the non-locking gas doors.
One person’s security feature is another person’s obnoxious inconvenience.
My fuel door became warped so it could not close (let alone lock), and stayed visibly hanging open a few inches. It stayed that way for almost a year before I finally got it fixed. Even then, nobody bothered to siphon out any of my gasoline.
You know, I’ve never heard of a single incident of anybody actually siphoning gas. I mean, I’m sure it’s happens from time to time. But I’m pretty sure the notion of roving bands of fuel-starved marauders hoovering gasoline out of every sucker in a parking lot was just media-hype made up during the oil crises of the 70s. It was probably fueled by carmakers who wanted to sell newfangled locking fuel cap doors.