‘My entire life I was under the impression’: Do you have to turn off your car when you put gas?

Photo by@sarahkudlack/Tiktok @sarahkudlack/Tiktok jittawit21/Shutterstock

‘I have never in my 34 years of life turned the car off while fueling’. It’s a hot day, and you want to leave the A/C in your vehicle cranked. Should you? Experts agree you should turn off your car while getting gas.

But one TikToker says drivers no longer see this basic instruction at gas stations anymore.

Did cars get safer? or are gas stations just being negligent?

TikToker Sarah Kudlack (@sarahkudlack) claims the warning labels of her youth are now outdated at the gas pump. So is it now safe to relax in your climate-controlled car as the engine runs while you fuel up?

Sarah’s video was posted to her TikTok account on Sept. 5 and currently has over 272,000 views. So what’s up?

Where are the warnings to turn off your car while getting gas?

Kudlack, who identifies in her TikTok bio as a “scrunchy mom of 3,” captioned her video, “I feel old…” after being confronted by a pump at a Wawa convenience store.

The Wawa pump had no visible warning sign asking customers to turn off their engines before fueling up their vehicles.

The on-screen text in the video reads: “Do we not turn our cars off when pumping gas anymore???”

She continues, writing, “My entire life I was under the impression that my car would start on fire or explode if I didn’t turn it off while pumping.”

“There are legit no signs telling you to turn off your car anymore,” she claims.

Interestingly, although certain states are required to show environmental and fuel compliance tags at the pump, there appears to be no nationwide warning to switch off your car at the pump.

However, stations might implement these warnings for their own protection.

So is it OK to run your engine while gassing up?

Simply put? No.

WCNC Charlotte reports that the ignition temperature of gasoline is 536 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature is easily surpassed by the catalytic converter in your vehicle.

These converters can achieve temperatures as high as 1000 degrees Fahrenheit.

Since gas vapors naturally move towards lower areas, they can easily make their way to the converter—potentially causing a fire.

Per WCNC, “Local fire departments respond to 4150 fires at gas stations per year. More than half of these calls were for vehicle fires.”

While WCNC notes that it’s “rare” for a car to catch fire at the pump, “it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

Other experts weigh in

The data analysis firm J.D. Power also suggests switching off your engine while refueling.

“While you can, technically, keep your car on, there’s always a non-negligible risk: gasoline vapors can come in contact with static electricity, which can ignite a fire, ultimately leading to an explosion. Notably, local fire departments responded to an estimated 4,150 service or gas station property fires annually from 2014 to 2018. Each year, these incidents resulted in three civilian fire fatalities, 43 civilian fire injuries, and $30 million in direct property damage,” J.D. Power reports.

And Car from Japan notes, “The reason why we’re advised to keep our cars off during fueling is that static-electricity-related incidents can crop up, though they are unusual. This spark of static electricity could ignite the gasoline vapors, setting your car, and the fuel pump burst into flames.”

It also mentions that switching off your vehicle reduces the chance of driving away with the hosepipe still connected to your fuel door.

How did her viewers react?

“We’re supposed to, it’s a safety precaution in case of sparks from the engine or exhaust, especially if you’re not regularly, properly maintaining it,” iseeeverything (@beautyisthebeast88) wrote in the comments.

Another viewer pointed out, “There used to be no cell phone signs bcuz of the static electricity spark that could potentially start a fire.”

But several viewers noted they were willing to risk an explosion if it meant going without A/C.

“I live in Florida. We don’t turn the AC off for any reason unless we’re getting out to go into more ac or water. My kids would be sweating by the time it hit $7,” wrote one user.

Another added, “Mines always on. It’s hot in GA and there’s a kid in the car.”