FORD FOOLS THE FUEL THIEVES

Designed primarily to prevent miss-fuelling and available as standard on all Ford passenger models sold in Ireland except the Ka, Ford’s Easy-Fuel cap-less system has the added feature of preventing fuel theft through siphoning. The Easy Fuel features an advanced filler neck design that makes it difficult to insert any object other than a standard fuel pump nozzle, but it has the additional benefit of discouraging thieves wielding a siphoning hose.

Eddie Murphy, Chairman and Managing Director of Ford Ireland said "The first goal of the Easy Fuel system is to make the refuelling process as simple and risk-free for the customer as possible, but we’re pleased if it also slows down would-be thieves.  We are hearing from our dealers on the ground of an increased incidence of fuel siphoning, particularly from older model cars. Unless they understand how the miss-fuelling inhibitor works and come prepared, many would-be fuel thieves are unsuccessful in siphoning fuel from Ford vehicles,”

With the Easy Fuel system, a spring-loaded door within the fuel filler neck is held closed by latches that can only be released by a standard-size fuel nozzle, eliminating the need for a fuel tank screw cap. When the proper nozzle is inserted, the latches release, and the nozzle pushes the spring-loaded door to the open position.  When the nozzle is removed, the door is automatically forced closed by the spring.  Makeshift siphoning devices are unlikely to be able to bypass the system.  If a nozzle or tube of a different size is placed in the filler neck of a petrol-powered vehicle, the latches will not release.