From another perspective – say I get gas on average every 250 miles. After 200,000 miles that is 800 gas stops – 800 starts if I turn it off. It is said that the most wear and tear is during starting. (Obviously getting gas is not a “cold”start.) Or, let it run for say 6 minutes or so, which would be 80 hours of idle time over the same 800 gas stops.
Which is more wear and tear? And if it is actually starting, is leaving it run “enough” better to take the fire risk, even if the risk is vanishingly small? I’d say probably not.
In older times, the gas tank was located next to, and above, the engine. So spilled gas on a hot running engine could cause a fire. To a lesser extent, most people probably leave their car running so they can go back into the warm car while the gas pumps, which results in a un-attended gas pump which can overflow or spill gas.
There are a bunch of risks, many of which others have already mentioned. The most relavent risk you OP is that if a fire breaks out and your car was running at the time, then *you* are now liable for any damage, injuries, or deaths which occur because of your negligence.
Why would leaving your car running while you fuel it be considered negligent? Because (in most jurisdictions) it is illegal. By definition, ignoring the law is negligent behaviour.
There are a lot of static electricity comments here. I recall a Mythbusters episode where they filled a tank with varying levels of gasoline vapors while generating constant static electricity and never could reach combustion. I realize that is a TV show, but curious what folks here think about that test in the context of this conversation.
I don’t believe understand the risks and tradeoffs of a safety rule is an ELI5 level thing. I would advise you don’t understand the risks and consequences of doing something that is considered by experts or regulations to be unsafe, the wise choice is to follow the safety rule or regulations. This is for two primary reasons. It takes far more experience and knowledge to understand the ways an action can lead to injury than to just do that action. I addition, doing something for years without injury is not the same as operating safely. Most unsafe things we can do many times before our luck is likely to run out. We only die once so, until we do, the outcome of all of our unsafe choices has been some amount of lucky. In short, while you’re figuring this out, please turn off your vehicle while fueling it. You can always go back to the old way once you’ve learned more.
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