What is Digg?198 Comments
- i440, on 10/12/2007, -28/+66Also to be added: larger gas tanks to power the new 2007 Ford Explorers, with fuel economy ranking at a healthy 100 feet per gallon. Hummers will soon follow suit.
- fantasticjon, on 10/12/2007, -4/+42@ FunkyWitDaSysTm
Yes, Ford and other manufacturers should concentrate on making better, more reliable, more efficient vehicles. But this gas cap idea is still a good idea.
Its sort of like putting down the "quick minute" button on a microwave. I mean, how hard is it to press Cook,6,0,Start. Not very hard. Are people that lazy that they need a "quick minute" button? NO! It has nothing to do with laziness and everything to do with usability and efficiency. - lwatcdr, on 10/12/2007, -4/+36Actually Ford has a Hybrid Escape, the Focus gets around the same fuel economy as the Civic, and the Fusion about the same as the Mazda 6 or Honda Accord.
Some people do NEED big vehicles. There is nothing wrong with large powerful trucks if you need them. You can not pull a trailer with a tractor on it with a Civic.
Big powerful SUVs and truck are only bad when people use them only to commute daily to work and or two run your two kids to soccer practice.
Ford does offer fuel efficient cars and Toyota and Honda offer gas guzzling trucks and SUVs.
Both offer users a choice. Don't blame Ford for the soccer moms with SUVs. They could have bought a Focus or Fusion. - FunkyWitDaSysTm, on 10/12/2007, -57/+88oh, my god. cuz i HATE unscrewing my gas cap! how ever did we live without this glorious new innovation?!
hey, ford, instead of wasting your time with stupid crap like this, why don't you try putting out some more fuel-efficient cars, some more hybrids, and less gas-guzzling SUV behemoths? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+27Oregons way of artificially creating jobs.
- Gregd, on 10/12/2007, -3/+23Haha. Props to Oregon. I don't have to remove my gas cap....the guy or girl at the gas station does it for me...
- roeboedog, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19I never understood that law, that some how the driver of the car is not able to fuel it. OK well some, but all? While living just over the border from you, I will find my self purchasing things with out tax then driving back home. They look at you like you are setting off a bomb if you try to put the gas in the car yourself.
- velocipenguin, on 10/12/2007, -4/+22It's up to the American public to stop being stupid enough to buy 8-passenger SUVs as personal commuter vehicles.
- westwind429, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18People getting sprayed with gas because the flap doesn't open? I don't know about you, but I don't start pumping gas until the nozzle is in the tank. Anybody who ends up sprayed with gasoline because they started the gas flowing before they put the nozzle in needs to either get off the roads to begin with, or walk away from the gas station, light a match, and remove themselves from the gene pool.
- hack314, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18They did a mythbusters on cigarettes lighting pools of gasoline, and then gas fumes. The burning embers aren't hot enough, it got totally busted. It's just a hollywood myth.
- r00tus3r, on 10/12/2007, -4/+19ahhh crap, I meant to mod funky down. A few days ago my g/f's cap got stolen at a service station, and I had hell trying to find a replacement. This is a great idea.
- Burgerman851, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18"why don't you try putting out some more fuel-efficient cars"
Is there something wrong making current designs more fuel efficient by preventing evaporation due to the carelessness of drivers who forget to replace their gas caps? - clipper453, on 10/12/2007, -10/+24This is actually a very worthwhile innovation. Evaporative emissions from leaving the gas cap off are actually much worse than the emissions coming out the tailpipe of those so-called behemoths.
- baddriver, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15I thought the way they were going to do away with gas caps was by making electric cars
- apocalizer, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15I don't think anyone's wasting time here. This came from racing experience, and that research was justified. Somebody just got the bright idea of porting it to everyday cars. Simplistically brilliant if unoriginal.
- gcube9x, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16So it's a fleshlight for gas pumps :D.
- diggitystar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13Personally, I prefer Diesel for it's ability to accept BioDiesel and pure grease, but that's just me. On a funny side note, Shell recently released a statement claiming that it would be unethical to use corn as a fuel source so long as there are starving people in the world. I'm glad my friendly neighborhood oil company still cares about the little people.
And don't get down on Ford, at least they're progressing somewhere. They'll get there eventually. - kevin.gc, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16Most cars' gas caps are like that... nothing special
- rtakach, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Ford gave us the first hybrid SUV.
Ford has 250,000 flex fuel vehicles on the road already, and they plan to expand.
The japs haven't developed any flex fuel vehicles.
All it takes is a rubber fuel line, different valve seals and a special fuel pump to be able to accept gas and ethanol. Ford is working to increase the number of e85 ready vehicles on the road. They've been doing it for years, it just doesn't get as much press.
Bad news about Ford gets printed 10 times more than good news about Ford. Anybody know about the eco-friendly Dearborn assembly plant? Probably not. - armbar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Having someone pump your gas while going through new jersey is great. It helps you avoid having your door open long enough to be subjected to the smell.
- Gregd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10@cpuguy.
You aren't 'allowed' to pump your own gas here in Oregon unless you're "certified" and only at special stations. It's not exactly full service because in my mind, full service means checking the oil, washing the windows, etc. They don't do that. Regular gas for me is about $2.91 a gallon so it doesn't necessarily even translate into horrendously higher prices at the pump. - HoboMaster, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13Alright Pile, come up with a battery usable for long-distance travel on a car that also has a lifetime of more than 3 years that also costs under $20k. There are a lot of researchers trying to figure this out right now. No one killed the electric car. Practicality and insuficient battery tech killed the electric car.
- Nerfdude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10this really isn't a bad idea, guys. it's not the biggest innovation in automotive history, but it's a good idea. and there won't be a "2-3 year test phase", either. they've been using this technology on NASCAR, JGTC, and F1 cars for decades.
- shertzerj, on 10/12/2007, -4/+13So let's see... 3 seconds to remove or replace the gas cap, filling up once per week, assuming I drive until I'm 80 years old... should save me about 4.8 hours in my lifetime. That's about 13 extra downloaded episodes of The Simpsons I can watch before I die. Thank you, Ford.
- Nougat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10New Jersey is the same way, so I hear.
- ch33zm0ng3r, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12I think that 90% of cars have that feature, even the little Saturn coop that I had back in highschool. (6 years ago)
- rodan32, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Even more humiliating, my METRO has that!
- qwickone, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14I've never driven a Ford, but in my car, the cap is connected to the car by a wire, so you can't close the little door that covers the tank unless you screw the cap back on. There's no was to leave it anywhere. Didn't that solve the problem years ago?
- rodan32, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11Um. . .wow. Because vapors don't leak out of the tanks now? What about those crazy folks who forget to put their gas caps back on? THEY'RE FRIKKIN TIME BOMBS! CALL AQUAMAN! I'm not sure you and I have the same grasp of the physics behind exploding gas stations.
- mecole21, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8dude, i used to work at a gas station, and it suprising how many people drive away without them or with them hanging from the side of the car with the flap open...
- rtakach, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8we have a fuel cell development laboratory.
you just don't read news about it. - Popdmb, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8yeah...i mean who knows? one of your friends could die in a freak gasoline fight accident
- Darth_tater, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8that law was passed a long time ago to give more employment opportunities
- ryan00davis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8show me a company that is making money on hybrids. show me a decent consumer market who would save money by buying a hybrid because right now most people who buy hybrids dont make their money back on gas from the initial jump in purchase price. you do either of those and maybe ford will put more emphasis on hybrids, but for now, they do have the escape. do your research, hell, digg even did it for you... remember the article about the GM exec who admitted that hybrids were all about PR?
- Pattyo13, on 05/14/2009, -1/+8if you read the article you'd notice that it was already implemented with NASCAR, they are just putting it on production vehicles now
- elroy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Seems like this is a feature mainly designed for women. :-D
- borninda818, on 10/12/2007, -35/+41I like their behemoths. Last time i checked, their behemoths were selling better than their other models. And the cap idea is a good one, but not that important.
- VorpalK, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8"Ideally, we should all be on bicycles, growing food on the roof of our underground house..
but its gonna take more than a few years for that to happen... "
Try "but that's never going to happen. " - fantasticjon, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9@mpancha
mpancha: "it has nothing to do with speed/efficiency... this is a car we are talking about."
What? Because its a car its functions shouldn't be designed to be erognomic or efficient or usable? I am not sure I understand you.
mpancha: " You should be aware of everything going on with your car, or should not have one to begin with."
Wow. Really. That sentence really breaks down under scrutiny. Your telling me you should know "everything" going on with your car at all times. So everyone needs to be a master mechanic, electrical engineer, chemist and physicist just to drive a car.
mpancha: " Forgetting to screw on a gas cap is pathetic, and it takes about 2 seconds if you're an idiot, 1 if you aren't."
I was refering more to the time benfits of the design. But I think as you grow older you will find that even "the great infalliable mpancha" may forget things once in awhile. - Pattyo13, on 05/14/2009, -2/+7this...and hybrids - go look at their website smartass
- fmaxwell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5ryan00davis wrote:
"show me a company that is making money on hybrids. show me a decent consumer market who would save money by buying a hybrid because right now most people who buy hybrids dont make their money back on gas from the initial jump in purchase price."
So we should only be environmentally responsible when it fattens our wallets? This country is doomed. - bleonard, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7People who regularly leave their gas cap off after re-fueling shouldn't be allowed to drive. Pushing a 2-ton object around at at break-neck speeds requires some intelligence, thinking, and god-forbid, concentration. Regularly forgetting to replace something that you just removed 120 seconds ago should place you in the "too dumb to drive" category.
- Chompy, on 10/12/2007, -6/+11I like how Honda and Toyota do it: a little hook on the filler door that you can hang the cap on. You can't close the door without remembering the cap, and you don't have to touch the business end (or get gasoline on your paint).
- kordless, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I'm thinking you should quit going to the 7-Eleven to fill your tank. Most filling stations (at least around me) still have the lever to lock it so it's easy to fill up.
What they *should* do is prevent you from continuing to fill the tank after the back pressure has triggered it to stop. This would prevent people from "topping off" which is responsible for a huge amount of vapors escaping. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10{thumbs up}
Screw the gas CAP... what they need to get rid of is the GAS ITSELF! - wolfzombie, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9Well, New Jersey makes sense. Have you ever been on the road in New Jersey! They need to learn how to drive!
- rtakach, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5@one2gamble
Bravo for your comment. Nobody realizes that toyota is leading in recalls because it never gets any press! But when Ford has to recall a part it's all over the front page of every newspaper. - velocipenguin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Modern cars already have sealed fuel systems. Tank vapors are usually vented to an activated-charcoal canister, which stores them safely while the engine is off. With the engine running, intake manifold vacuum draws the vapors into the engine for combustion. Cars have been equipped with these EVAP systems since the 80s, and I've never heard of one bursting from excessive pressure.
- socokoolaid, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5It's about time. I remember hearing for the last 5 years how horrible the gas vapors are for the environment, and global warming? I remember hearing repeatedly how waiting 5 minutes after fueling before removing the nossel from your vehicle makes a drastic impact.
Next lets make a standardized quick connect like connection and start upgrading the fuel stations with them as well. This would easily reduce the emission to Zero. Along with putting an end to the dreaded fuel spills and splashes. - Gregd, on 10/12/2007, -19/+23On the Ford Expeditions, the fuel filler caps were as big as Yugos. Doing away with them will save thousands..
In other news, Ford still does almost nothing for crappy gas mileage... -
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