Gas Thieves Are Drilling Into Vehicle Tanks
Perhaps you thought an old-fashioned siphon was the only way to steal gasoline from a vehicle, but thieves have other ways of accessing your gas tank. Heidi Perkins of Waxahachie, TX. spent $90 filling up her Dodge pickup. Yet, only a few days later her gauge was reading below empty, according to the Star-Telegram. She went to the gas station to refill and noticed the gasoline escaping from a freshly drilled hole in her gas tank. More, inside...
Many fuel tanks are equipped with rollover valves designed to cut off the flow of fuel when the vehicle rolls over. These valves, which are actually just small balls in the tank's neck, have the added effect of blocking any siphoning tubes entering the tank. This has forced some thieves into cutting into the tank itself. Tommy Westerman, a mechanic at Westerly Automotive in west Fort Worth said, "I had a young lady who drives a little Cavalier, and someone had used a drill to make a hole in the tank. For a new tank and labor it was about $400. It does damage."
Not all gasoline thieves are drilling tank holes. Some are cutting into the fuel filler tube which on some cars, runs along the underside of the vehicle. In these cases, trucks and SUVs are the popular targets since they sit higher off the ground.
Until auto-makers start designing vehicles to resist gasoline theft, authorities preach basic vehicle safety measures. Park in well-lit garages or driveways instead of the street. You can also install motion-sensitive security lights which could deter some would-be thieves. In addition, report any suspicious persons or activity occurring in parking lots. What tips do you have to help prevent the theft of gasoline from vehicles?
Gasoline thieves adopt a new drill [Star-Telegram]
(Photo: Getty)
Post a comment
Comments:
Anyone who steals gas deserves to be shot on the spot, I'm 16 and on my first car, i can barely afford a tank of gas every couple of weeks and god help me if i come up on someone stealing gas from my tank, I'm going to jail because Mr. Crowbar in my trunk is going to say hi.
Come live in the back ass of beyond with me. We're friendly folk who all know each other and would never steal gas from your tank. Just all the copper wiring from your air conditioner. And, depending on current architectural and decor trends, possible the sides of your barn for "salvage wood." Seriously. There's a black market in it.
Both our cars are parked in the garage at night. They tend to stay there most of the day too since I telecommute..
Other than that I've got a Texas CHL and I'm using it. It would be pretty stupid for a thief to get shot over a tank of gas.
@Jones91: I feel for you. When I was 16, a scant 12 years ago, I was driving a 1985 Toyota Land Cruiser. Of course, gas was $1.50 a gallon, but still...I only got 9-10 MPG and had a 22-gallon tank.
My current '08 GTI is much nicer, to say the least.
That's just a shame... and really, an all time new low to save a few dollars on gas. What are you going to save, $15 to $60? Depending on the person's tank at the time...
Seriously. All time new low.
@Bladefist: Believe it or not drilling into a full fuel tank is actually quite safe, as liquid gasoline is not readily ignited. When the tank in nearly empty of liquid (therefore nearly full of vapors) is when the fun starts.
You could always rig up some explosives like that scene in "Mad Max". Word gets out about an incident or two, people will probably start to think twice (though thieves, as a group, are pretty stupid).
BTW, don't do this if you lease the car. The charges when you return the vehicle could be...excessive.
@MPHinPgh: I'll have to re-read my lease agreement, but I think mine covers homemade explosives placed the lessee.
@SgtBeavis: "It would be pretty stupid for a thief to get shot over a tank of gas."
As I'm always telling my students, people don't go into lives of crime because they're SMART. Go spend a morning listening to arraignments and you will realize that a) 99% of criminals aren't smart enough to break into your house unless the door's unlocked, which is comforting, but b) 99% of criminals aren't smart enough to do a simple risk/reward analysis and realize stolen gas isn't worth getting shot in the face, which is not comforting.
@Nocross: Its EXTREMELY difficult to "blow up" gasoline.
I can't imagine how bad it is near my old house right now. I came out to find my gas cap lying on the ground several times back when gas first hit $2.00.
Happy to live in a better area, now.
I'd almost want to make it easy for the thieves, just to avoid as much collateral damage as possible. Perhaps if your tank had a drain installed, they wouldn't destroy a $400 tank to get at $40 worth of fuel.
Then again, I've had thieves break a $100 window to get a $20 stereo...when the door was UNLOCKED.
Alright, I'm on board. Let's shoot a few gas thieves. The rest will think twice.
@Eyebrows McGee: There is this misperception that if you live in the midwest and not in some huge city there is less crime. Nope, just fewer over all incidents because there are fewer people per square feet. Chicago has a lower violent crime ranking that the place I live based on incident per 1000 people.
I can't wait for someone to try this on my car, the tank's empty! Ha, that'll show 'em.3
I've worked on some old cars and they actually had drains in the gas tank like oil pans do today. For example a '57 Chevy has such a drain. It made sense because there are a number of scenarios where you should drain the tank before removing it during repair/scrap. Back then gas was so cheap nobody would steal it. Now a days the simplest option is to run the tank dry.
@strangeffect: And then they'll be laughed out of court.
You'd like to think so, but precedence tells a different story.
@Bladefist: Plastic fuel tanks are the biggest reason why. Steel fuel tanks have largely gone the way of the Dodo over the past 15-20 years to help lighten vehicles. Also, plastic doesn't corrode, leading to clogged up fuel pump strainers and the pumps themselves.
As mentioned before, liquid gasoline is actually very hard to burn. Its the vapor you have to worry about.
Gasoline is very hard to ignite. The vapor is what actually combusts. Drilling into the bottom of the tank and into the liquid, while not someting I would want to do, has a low risk of explosion.
I've always heard that when a car explodes it's because of the battery. While the gas will burn, the fire will heat the battery, and we've all seen warnings on Double A's about not putting them in fire :)
Do we have to publicize morons like this and give other morons ideas? While I'm all for a national IQ test to see who blows themselves up, I'd rather they didn't do it with my car.
@Preyfar: More like $100. I know co-workers of my husband who have to gas up that much or more to fill the tanks of their trucks and SUVs.
How about we reduce the incentive to steal gas by dropping the price down below a dollar a litre (which is still twice as much as it should be.)
I'm just waiting for the stories of people renting Zipcars for 30 minutes, driving them to the gas station, filling them up with the provided (free) gas card, then stopping by their house to siphon into their own car before returning.
Good luck trying to steal my gas. I've coated the underside of my car with tasty, delicious honey and the tank is filled with killer bees. Yes, BEES!
@Jones91: Ha... When I was that young I remember spending almost all the money I made driving to work on gas... to drive to work. I wouldn't have been able to afford it if gas costs now what it cost back then.
@Norcross: Ditto. I read the headline and thought, "Darwin Award!"
Shucks. Maybe next time, a winner?
@conformco: I never thought about that. But considering you have to punch in the odometer reading and they know exactly how much you're buying, you might be able to get away with it once, they'd catch on fairly quick if there was a pattern, I think.
If you get some brass drill bits or a brass punch your gas tank drilling endevors will be spark free!!!
I keep a 5 gallon can of gas in the bed of my pickup truck. If someone is looking for easy gas, they'll likely take that and run before going to the trouble of drilling my tank.
Give the people what they want.
by the way, gas out here is $5.11 a gallon as of yesterday.
This is nothing, you've got gas theives, pulling up to a gas station in proper uniforms with gas trucks, the addendant thinks they're filling up the stations tanks when in all acuality they're sucking them dry. BOOM! $150K gone.
@MPHinPgh:
The thieves doing this are the same ones steeling copper wiring. There are reports all the time of a thief getting electrocuted to death while stealing copper from wires or around wires, and yet, it hasn't put a dent in the crimes.
Around here in DC we had some thieves break into a fuel distributor, hot wire two tankers, fill them up and leave. Pretty bold, and makes me wonder how large an operation was required. Just two dedicated guys? or a team/gang?
2 Tankers Stolen news link
After having gas stolen from my extremely old car three times in the last month, I've stopped filling up past 1/4 of a tank. It means I stop at the gas station every few days (I don't drive a whole lot), but it also means the next time someone tries to steal gas from my car, they risk killing themselves in the process and I get a new car, which would far outweigh the negatives of a dead thief and the loss of $20 worth of gas.
My tip for thetop: WALK.
What is everyone's opinion on the idea of a locking gas cap? Worth it, or no?
Good luck stealing gas from me, My tank is always on E
Outside of putting a skid plate under the arse end of whatever you happen top drive to protect the bottom of the tank, I really don't have any anti theft suggestions.
I do have a fun little revenge idea though. This would work far better on an econo box than on a real car. Install a smaller fuel cell in the trunk or under the hood to use as a gas tank. Leave the existing gas tank in place and fill it about half way with sewage. Then, the next bastard that sticks a hose in your gas tank and takes a big suck...... or even if he happens to be laying under the tank drilling into it and gets a face full.......
@Jones91:
Shot on the spot? Don't you think that is a little too much??? How about have their hands run over 3 times for every gallon of gas stolen???
I suppose there's an upside to being so broke you can only put $15 of gas in your car between shifts...
Here in Norfolk gas is only $3.85 in some places!
I always keep less than 2 gallons in my vehicle. Of course, it helps that it gets 104 MPG!!!!
@The_AntiVirus: No, I don't think shooting a thief in the process of damaging your car and stealing your gasoline is too much at all. People are perfectly safe from me as long as they're not doing stupid crap like drilling into my gas tank in my driveway or breaking into my house. If they have no more innate sense of the social contract than is required to realize you're not supposed to do such things, they need to be blown right out of the gene pool.
I don't wander around the streets armed looking to mete out vigilante justice, but I'll be damned if I'll sit quietly and allow someone to steal from me in person. It's bad enough that the Chimpanzee in Chief has been throwing away our tax money for 8 years, I definitely want to keep what I still have in my possession.
I can't wait for the first idiot to do this and literally blow themselves up. I wonder if my car insurance covers explosion by ignorance?