# Holy Crap! "Stay-on" gas pumps are back in NY!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2008, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509 "2008-11-13T08:40:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/1 "2008-11-13T08:40:01Z")
Don’t know if its just an oversight, but when I went to a newly renovated Mobil station (they’ve lowered the pump display/control for better handicapped access) and there on the pump handle, in all its glory, was the little clip, um, thingy, that holds the pump on so you don’t have to. Or in my case, so I don’t have to stick the gas cap into the handle. Don’t want to start a GD about the safety of those things (its just gasoline, not nitroglycerin) but has anyone else in NY State seen them? They disappeared like 30 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/2 "2008-11-13T12:10:08Z")
I have seen them again on some pumps put in since Cuomo left office. If they’re new pumps they may still have that catch, though some are still being removed. AIUI Cuomo hated the things, and saw them as a safety hazard, and had pushed a law through to make them illegal. One of the things that Pataki did away with when he came in was that law. Now, Cuomo made sure of enforcement of his law, so there was a huge incentive to remove the things when it first went through. The removal of the law had only made a situation where they were permitted - not required. So there’s very little incentive to retrofit existing pumps with them. And, of course, not everyone has gotten the word that they legal environment had changed since Cuomo’s days. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/3 "2008-11-13T12:33:13Z")
Presumably these pumps still have an automatic cut-off when the nozzle detects the tank is (near) full, so the only safety hazard would occur if the nozzle fell out of the tank? ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/4 "2008-11-13T12:36:01Z")
Again, this is AIUI, but yes. And that disaster was just the sort of thing that Cuomo was concerned about. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/5 "2008-11-13T13:22:18Z")
I’ve never seen a pump nozzle fall out of a car in my life, nor ever heard of it happening, but even if it did happen, I’d imagine the drop itself would almost certainly dislodge the catch and shut down the pump. I’m really not seeing the hazard here, but then, I’ve been using those catches since I started driving. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/6 "2008-11-13T13:50:00Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > Presumably these pumps still have an automatic cut-off when the nozzle detects the tank is (near) full, so the only safety hazard would occur if the nozzle fell out of the tank? No. I’ve had the automatic shut-off fail, overfill the tank, and spill gasoline all over the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/7 "2008-11-13T13:56:19Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > No. > I’ve had the automatic shut-off fail, overfill the tank, and spill gasoline all over the ground. Really? Becaue the way full service works here, the attendant puts the nozzle in your car and then walks away to treat other customers or whatever. When it fills up, the pump stops and he or she moseys on back to your car to take it out and close up. I’ve never seen a pump overflow in my life. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/8 "2008-11-13T14:06:50Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Really? Becaue the way full service works here, the attendant puts the nozzle in your car and then walks away to treat other customers or whatever. When it fills up, the pump stops and he or she moseys on back to your car to take it out and close up. I’ve never seen a pump overflow in my life. Yes, really. It probably spilled a gallon of gas before I caught it. I was a bit concerned about starting the car, because there was a big pool of gas under it… ---
**Author:** ![aktep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@aktep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aktep)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/9 "2008-11-13T14:43:46Z")
I, too, have had the auto shutoff fail. Only once in 15 years, but it can happen. There was a gallon or two of gas on the ground before one of the other customers alerted me to what was happening. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/10 "2008-11-13T14:54:04Z")
I pumped gas for a living way back when. Do tanks overflow? Sure every so often. I doubt I have ever seen more than a couple of tenths of a gallon on the ground. It doesn’t take much gas to make a huge puddle. More likely than that is a spit back where the car suddenly can’t take any more fuel and it spits a cup or so out of the filler. New nozzles with vapor recovery and shields prevent you from wearing that spit up. Even so I still stand off to the side, and not directly behind the nozzle when I am buying gas. Do nozzles fall out of the fill pipe? Again sure, but not very often. Will the nozzle shut off if it fall out? You bet ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/11 "2008-11-13T15:25:51Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > The removal of the law had only made a situation where they were permitted - not required. So there’s very little incentive to retrofit existing pumps with them. It’s not an issue with the pumps, it’s an issue with the **nozzle**. Nozzles are damaged / break all the time, and are replaced with new or rebuilt ones. Joe ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/12 "2008-11-13T15:27:42Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Really? Becaue the way full service works here, the attendant puts the nozzle in your car and then walks away to treat other customers or whatever. When it fills up, the pump stops and he or she moseys on back to your car to take it out and close up. I’ve never seen a pump overflow in my life. The auto shut-off valve can malfunction - I’ve seen it happen a half-dozen times or so in 5 years working at a gas station. Sometimes the fuel overflows, sometimes the nozzle is ejected. ETM ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/13 "2008-11-13T15:44:25Z")
Seems to me the bigger danger is leaving the pump in and driving off. Not that I would know. I can assure you there are passive fail-closed valves between the handle and the pump. > [@Rick](#): > > Even so I still stand off to the side, and not directly behind the nozzle when I am buying gas… Usually when I’m _buying_ the gas, I stand right in front of the pump or the counter, depending on if I’m paying with a card or cash. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/14 "2008-11-13T17:49:11Z")
Gasoline vapors are big ozone contributors, and the efforts put forth to keep spills/splashes to a minimum are really about not having gasoline evaporate into the air. I don’t think safety is the real issue. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/15 "2008-11-13T19:28:56Z")
As a safety concern, I think it’s somewhat idiosyncratic to NY. Are there any other states that ban these devices? Along perhaps the same lines, weren’t garbage disposals illegal in NY until relatively recently? I seem to recall reading that somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/16 "2008-11-13T19:31:55Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Or in my case, so I don’t have to stick the gas cap into the handle. What does this mean? I can’t figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/17 "2008-11-13T19:44:53Z")
That he, instead of holding the nozzle, takes off the gas cap and wedges it in so that it keeps the pump running. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/18 "2008-11-13T19:45:33Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > As a safety concern, I think it’s somewhat idiosyncratic to NY. Are there any other states that ban these devices? > > Along perhaps the same lines, weren’t garbage disposals illegal in NY until relatively recently? I seem to recall reading that somewhere. Mass and Rhode Island. People who live in those areas seemed freaked out by the idea when I inquired about it, but they’re a bit more spastic about things anyway. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/19 "2008-11-13T19:50:38Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > Mass and Rhode Island. People who live in those areas seemed freaked out by the idea when I inquired about it, but they’re a bit more spastic about things anyway. Not Mass - there are at least 2 self-serve stations I know of that have the nozzle catch, and have for years. So unless the weights & measures inspector never noticed them, I’d guess they’re legal. ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509/20 "2008-11-13T20:02:29Z")
> [@Santo\_Rugger](#): > > Seems to me the bigger danger is leaving the pump in and driving off. Not that I would know. I can assure you there are passive fail-closed valves between the handle and the pump. That’s exactly the reason for disabling the locking mechanism. It has nothing to do with overflow. People leave the nozzle in the car and drive off destroying the pump and the car along with creating a fire hazard. It doesn’t happen often but once or twice a year is enough to have the owner of the filling station remove the locking mechanism. I learned this from a gas station attendant who has seen it happen 3 times. He saw a guy in a Porsche do it. The repair bill must have been astronomical. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/holy-crap-stay-on-gas-pumps-are-back-in-ny/472509.md?page=2)