I mitigate risks when it’s reasonable. Not getting in my car while pumping gas is an easy step to take in order to mitigate a risk. Like buckling my seatbelt.
Can you perhaps share some statistics of explosions caused by getting in a car? No? How about an article of someone blown to smithereens by getting in there car? Not that either?
What you're feeling better about is the theater of inferred safe practices. The fact that in spite of driving being the top cause of accidental death, you're ok with but although there is no factual info backing up your fear of getting into your car should give you pause.
Not that it didn't happen, just that they are so rare, you had to find a 4 pixel video of one and are completely unable to provide any statistics due to it's rarity.
I was going to link a vehicle accident to back up my claim but, well, I had problems picking one from the 6 million that occur annually.
But you go ahead and worry about the static electricity while fueling so you can hop in your car and hurtle down the road around the oncoming rockets that are infinitely more likely to end your life but you are, for some strange reason, more OK with.
They put stickers on every pump everywhere warning about static electricity causing fires. Do you think they just put those on there for fun? I bet you're not vaccinated either, idiot.
There was a whole Mythbusters episode where they tried TONS of stuff to get a gas station to go up in flames (they couldn't, not even smoking a cigarette -- under near ideal conditions for an ignition of nearby vapors -- per my recollection).
So yeah, I'm sitting in my car (especially if it's cold outside).
"Static electricity" isn't somehow more of a concern sitting in your car than standing outside one in a fuzzy jacket.
Probably 1 in 10 million (and 2/2 videos where they didn't shut the car door)... I'll take that chance.
Edit: also think about it, if this was a real problem with a high enough frequency they'd engineer the fuel handles to prevent it. Heck, maybe they already did (accidentally or intentionally) plenty of them increasingly have a ton of plastic.
What you're saying doesn't make any sense. If you're engineering something to prevent a spark from a static charge, you engineer it to prevent a spark from a static charge. You don't engineer it to "ground you at first and then fail" if you pick up a static charge for some reason.
EDIT: And there are a lot more ways to become statically charged than getting in and out of a car (which in a lot of cases isn't going to give you a static charge anyways -- e.g. leather seats on cotton clothes is extremely unlikely to generate a static charge).
Yes, which is why the recommendation is to keep your hand on the handle while pumping or touch a metal part of your car prior to returning to the pump, and don't get back into a car.
I have a real life degree in automotive technology and engineering, and you saw a Mythbusters episode.
We can keep doing this forever if you like, but you're still very poorly informed on how safety is engineered into your vehicle fuel system and the mechanisms that support it.
Most important, motorists should not get back into their vehicles during refueling. It may be a temptation to get back in the car for any number of reasons. But the average fill-up takes only two minutes, and staying outside the vehicle will greatly minimize the likelihood of any build-up of static electricity that could be discharged at the nozzle.
I have a degree in computer science, I've worked on electrical engineering projects, my father is an electrician, I have a close friend and mentor that's a forensic electrical engineer, etc.
If y'all in the automotive space think this is a real problem, fix it. It is trivial to shield something from static electricity; TRIVIAL. Frankly it's unacceptable it hasn't been fixed if you're so adamant there's a serious risk to the public.
This reads to me as an "ass covering" article for a very very very rare event. At 1/10,000,000 estimated probability I'd have to live thousands of lives at the rate I fill up my car to ever see this.
I'm not going to worry about this more than I'm going to worry about winning the lottery or spontaneous combustion frankly; the probabilities do not warrant concern. Which I'm sure is the real reason nothing has been done here.
I question your ability as an engineer if you can't understand how to shield something from static electricity. Hint: use non-conducive material to create an isolated ground that never makes contact with the gasoline, they've been doing it for all kinds of sensitive electronics for decades. This technique is also used to prevent your metal kitchen mixer from killing you if there's a short.
Am I "the expert" in this domain? No. Do I have plenty of exposure to it and other engineering disciplines to make a judgement call on the facts; absolutely.
The concern (especially when it's cold since that usually implies dry air) is that a buildup of static energy occurs when your body rubs up against your cars interior.
This concern is usually a bit bigger for younger folks because they tend to not touch any metal parts of their car when getting up, which would discharge the energy while still a decent distance from the nozzle that's leaking gas vapors.
I just watch the filler from the side mirror. When I feel the click of the disengagement, I hop out, give a ground pat to the pump and replace the nozzle.
That's my point. When it fails, there's no click. It just keeps going. Then you're scrambling to stop the pump as it's jizzing fuel all over your car's paint job, the floor, you...