['97ventureowner]

Originally Posted by richtazz

How about a retractable one, like the maintenance guy keychains?

They actually make them short on purpose to prevent just whay you suggest. This forces the driver to be within eyeshot of the pump handle in case the auto-shut off fails so fuel doesn't shoot everywhere.

I have always rolled my eyes at all the warning signs at gas stations, until I witnessed a massive fire caused by a cell phone first hand. A guy was pumping gas at a station across the street from me, and the whole station lit up in a massive fireball when he answered his cell.
He had an obnoxious ring tone that caught my attention. I looked up just as the fireball ignited. I actually felt the heat from it, and amazingly, the guy was treated for minor burns only and no one else was hurt.

That and fueling separate gas cans in the vehicle. The risk of static electricity is so great . I've seen PSA on tv about this. They say to place the containers on the ground to fuel, and if you should go inside your vehicle during the fueling operation, when you get out, touch a metal portion of your vehicle to discharge any built up static electricity before you touch the fuel nozzle/handle. Those warning signs are only as good as the ones who actually read and follow them. The ones that do not are the ones who actually those signs are meant for.