On my way back from Laguna Seca I had an interesting experience. After stopping for fuel I drove off and was on the road for a good five minutes before I saw the fuel door flapping in my peripheral vision. I can't say for certain whether I closed it or not after filling up, but the fact that it took five minutes for the door to start flapping makes me think I did shut it before driving away. One side benefit to the GT's fuel door placement is that you can see when it is open...
How often do you see a car driving around with the fuel door open and the cap swinging in the breeze? I saw this again on my way to work today, proving most people are oblivious to the issue when it happens. Interestingly, the GT doesn't have a traditional fuel "cap." You simply pop the door and slide the fuel nozzle into the spring-loaded cap. When the fuel door popped open it didn't freak out the engine system -- no "Check Engine" light came on, even though that commonly happens when you leave your fuel cap off or loose. Ford says all of its vehicles will eventually use this system. I probably drove like this for 10 minutes, just to see if the engine light would come on. Then I stopped, slammed the cap shut, and got back in. It hasn't popped up since, so maybe it was user error.
Karl Brauer, Editor in Chief, Edmunds.com @ 5,690 miles
steve_ says:
09:27 PM, 09/18/06
Reading little blurbs about Ford's capless fuel system, I wondered if there was a door and was curious about placement of the spring loaded cap gizmo. I couldn't figure out how would you would keep rain and debris away from the area if you put the fuel filler on a flat surface, like the GT setup. Now it all makes sense. :-)
ahightower says:
08:24 AM, 09/19/06
Clearly we need a law against using cell phones at gas stations to prevent people from forgetting to close their fuel filler doors...
editor_karl says:
02:52 PM, 09/19/06
LOL! I love it! Good tie-in!