Ford Easy Fuel Helps Prevent Fuel Theft as Rising Prices Correspond with Illegal Siphoning

• Ford-exclusive Easy Fuel system deters fuel thieves from siphoning tanks and also features a unique system to prevent customers filling their cars with the wrong type of fuel
• Check valve reduces the chances of fuel theft by automatically closing off the fuel tank after the fuelling process
• Fuel theft from vehicles is of increasing concern to many drivers as rising fuel prices can increase the chances of being a victim

COLOGNE, Germany, Aug. 10, 2011 – With fuel prices on the rise, so too is the theft of fuel through siphoning. 

Ford owners can feel a little more secure that they won’t return to an empty tank thanks to the company’s exclusive Easy Fuel cap-less fuel system.  

Easy Fuel features an advanced filler neck design that makes it difficult to insert any object other than a standard fuel pump nozzle. The design is primarily to prevent customers from pumping diesel into a petrol tank but has the ancillary benefit of discouraging thieves wielding a siphoning hose. 

“Our first goal is to make the refuelling process as simple and risk-free for the customer as possible,” said Brian Aitken, Ford’s supervisor of fuel systems. “But we’re pleased if it also slows down would-be thieves.”
  
UK car owners are sure to appreciate the additional security benefits of Ford Easy Fuel after fuel prices, which broke through the £6 gallon barrier in March, continued to rise – with petrol averaging 135.75 pence per litre and diesel 139.34 pence per litre in June.

Even at these prices demand remains high with UK drivers purchasing 835 million litres of fuel in the first three months of 2011 alone, and news reports of fuel theft typically increase along with fuel prices. A sudden surge in fuel costs in 2008 saw incidents of fuel theft in Greater London rise 500 per cent, and one car parts retailer saw a 54 per cent increase in lockable fuel cap sales when fuel prices surged in early 2011.

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.

Easy Fuel also has a unique system designed to reduce improper refuelling and siphoning. An inhibitor is fitted which consists of a fuel nozzle detector that guides the nozzle to the opening. If a nozzle or foreign tube of a different size – a diesel nozzle or plastic hose, for example – is placed in the filler neck of a petrol-powered vehicle, the latches will not release. 

“Unless they understand how the mis-fuelling inhibitor works and come prepared, many would-be fuel thieves are unsuccessful in siphoning fuel from Ford vehicles,” said Aitken.

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About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 166,000 employees and about 70 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford’s products, please visit www.fordmotorcompany.com.

Ford of Europe is responsible for producing, selling and servicing Ford brand vehicles in 51 individual markets and employs approximately 66,000 employees. In addition to Ford Motor Credit Company, Ford of Europe operations include Ford Customer Service Division and 22 manufacturing facilities, including joint ventures. The first Ford cars were shipped to Europe in 1903 – the same year Ford Motor Company was founded. European production started in 1911.