# What would happen if someone left their car engine running whilst refuelling? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 23, 2009, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-left-their-car-engine-running-whilst-refuelling/514835 "2009-10-23T08:43:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-left-their-car-engine-running-whilst-refuelling/514835/41 "2009-10-23T21:18:22Z")
I never turn my engine off while refueling in the winter, unless I’m going to be leaving the presence of the car. I trust that I know how to ground myself properly to avoid a static spark, and as I’ve posted I’ve been on fire from gasoline a few times before, and know how to put myself out without panicking. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-left-their-car-engine-running-whilst-refuelling/514835/42 "2009-10-23T21:27:22Z")
So if I’m reading this right … _so long as you ground yourself and perfectly avoid static shock_, the danger of running the engine during fueling is basically “none”? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-left-their-car-engine-running-whilst-refuelling/514835/43 "2009-10-23T22:31:45Z")
When I was a kid, it was very common to leave the car running. Especially in the wintertime in the midwest. ---
**Author:** ![wmfellows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@wmfellows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wmfellows)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-left-their-car-engine-running-whilst-refuelling/514835/44 "2009-10-23T22:42:27Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > The most likely cause of this sort of pump fire is someone ( **more often than not female** ) getting back into the car, sliding across the seat, and getting out and touching the pump handle. "More often than not female’? Cite? And you cite a sample of five incidents in the USA? What does gender have to do with this? ---
**Author:** ![Fantome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Fantome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fantome)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-left-their-car-engine-running-whilst-refuelling/514835/45 "2009-10-23T23:26:04Z")
> [@wmfellows](#): > > "More often than not female’? Cite? And you cite a sample of five incidents in the USA? > > What does gender have to do with this? [Static Electricity and Gas Pump Fires | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/autos/hazards/static.asp) Unless there’s some statistics that victims are more likely to be female that Snopes wasn’t aware of, I’m betting that **engineer\_comp\_geek** was remembering something that he read somewhere on the internet that has no validity to it. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-left-their-car-engine-running-whilst-refuelling/514835/46 "2009-10-23T23:50:01Z")
> [@Fantome](#): > > [Static Electricity and Gas Pump Fires | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/autos/hazards/static.asp) > > Unless there’s some statistics that victims are more likely to be female that Snopes wasn’t aware of, I’m betting that **engineer\_comp\_geek** was remembering something that he read somewhere on the internet that has no validity to it. The API (American Petroleum Institute) and the PEI (Petroleum Equipment Institute) have both investigated static discharge fires. Here is a [report](http://www.pei.org/Portals/0/resources/documents/Refueling%20Fire%20Incidents.pdf) from PEI citing what happened in (PDF!) Reading the first three pages of incidents on the reports where the sex of the driver can be determined there are 9 females and 2 males identified. I have spent a fair amount of time over the years looking at information about static fires during fueling as this is of interest to me. I have read several places where the the driver is more likely to be female. The reason given is they are more likely to get back into the car during the refueling. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-left-their-car-engine-running-whilst-refuelling/514835/47 "2009-10-24T01:04:53Z")
> [@wmfellows](#): > > What does gender have to do with this? 1)Much more likely to be wearing a synthetic lower garment. 2)Much more likely to be wearing a drafty skirt or dress, less yellow fat to generate body heat, thus more tempted to wait for tank to fill inside warm car than to stand outside. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2009, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-left-their-car-engine-running-whilst-refuelling/514835/48 "2009-10-24T02:12:08Z")
I remember an old Peter Arno cartoon from _The New Yorker_ in which a service-station attendant, while pumping gas, says to the driver of an enormous car, “Would you mind switching her off, buddy? She’s gaining on me!” ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-left-their-car-engine-running-whilst-refuelling/514835/49 "2009-10-24T03:40:47Z")
Here is a [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUf8vc7I6bc) that the PEI has on their website. If you watch carefully you will see the young lady get back into the car and then back out without touching the metal of the car. She then pulls her sweater down (again could generate static depending on the fabric.) and without touching the metal of the car, she reaches for the nozzle. Fire erupts. BTW here is a [video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tYO4jvnJHw) of static discharge fire due to filling a plastic gas can when it isn’t grounded. (plastic can in a truck bed with a bed liner.) I saw a fire of this type at Willow Springs Raceway once. 5 gallon plastic race gas can got filled in the bed of a truck with a bed liner. Guy reached for the nozzle, and a very large fire erupted. Race was black flagged, Fire 1 was rolled and the truck was saved. only time I have ever heard Fire One called to the paddock. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-left-their-car-engine-running-whilst-refuelling/514835.md?page=2)