Is it dangerous to talk on a cell phone while pumping gas?

I was told it was dangerous by a friend but the gas station I was at had all kinds of warning labels but nothing about cell phone use.
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Never mind. I see Snopes has labeled it an urban legend and says that cell phones won't cause explosions at thehttp://www.snopes.com/autos/hazards/gasvapor.asp gas pump.

bungee

oh well if they didn't warn you just go ahead and use an electronic device while you are surrounded by explosive fumes<

PontiAddict

Highly doubtful that a cell phone itself will cause anything to happen...the very serious risks are getting back into the vehicle and building up a static charge, which tends to ground back to the filler neck and ignites the fumes venting from the tank. I've actually had this happen to me before, but was able to stop the flames by just stopping the pump and removing the nozzle. fumes stopped, flames stopped, and then was able to go back to pumping after collecting my thoughts.

George A

Mythbusters busted this one in one of their shows. But with any electronic device there could always be that 1 in 1 million or 1 billion chance that something could go wrong. (Murphy's Law plays a big hand here too)

But I look at it this way. A lot of gas stations have faulty auto-shutoffs on their nozzles. Talking on a cell phone is or can be distracting, add that to a faulty nozzle & you have a very dangerous gasoline spill.

A couple of years ago a driver for a local private ambulance company received serious burns at a gas pump. After an intense investigation by law enforcement, BATF and the company that owned the fueling station, the only thing that they could pinpoint the gas vapors igniting from is when the driver used the card swipe machine to log the fuel purchase a static discharge in the machine ignited some gas vapors from the ambulance in the adjoining pump that was already fueling when he got there. The fire totaled his unit & he suffered 2nd degree burns- the 1 in 1 million or 1 billion chance that that could ever happen in anyone's lifetime I mentioned earlier.

Lance A

Yes, if you search on Youtube you can see a bunch of video where Gas stations blow up. I think the real question is How dangerous is it to pump while on cell. I would rather have someone be on their cell than be smoking next to me.

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