No, your fuel tank won’t explode when full in summer – Fake news buster’

Like every year, the month of June has returned and has brought the wrath of the sun gods with it. Considered to be among the hottest months of the year, it really becomes a pain for those who have to drive during the harsh afternoon sun. People are generally careful during these months in order to avoid heat stroke and other dangers which loom over due to high temperatures. However, every summer a message floats around the social media declaring ‘Do not full your fuel tanks to full capacity in summers. It may blast’. It is circulated by people with pretty seriously as they consider it to be a real threat. Images like the one featured below warn people about this danger and advise them to not fill their tanks to full capacity.

Now we don’t know why these messages begin to circulate every year during summers or who is behind all this. What we do know is that these claims are completely baseless and should not be taken seriously. While it is true that high atmospheric temperatures affect a vehicle in several ways, there is no way a tank full of fuel could lead to a blast. After these rumours and fake claims reached a height of frenzy last year, Indian Oil’s official twitter handle tweeted a statement which rubbished all such claims. The tweet stated that :

It is perfectly safe to fill the fuel in vehicles up to the limit (max.) as specified by the manufacturer irrespective of winter or summer.

It is perfectly safe to fill the fuel in vehicles up to the limit (max.) as specified by the manufacturer irrespective of winter or summer. pic.twitter.com/SWb5KzuzCw

— Indian Oil Corp Ltd (@IndianOilcl) April 10, 2017

Another image that has been doing the rounds in social media is of a Royal Enfield motorcycle that was burnt down after a mishap happened. This image is often shared in various ways stating that it was burnt because the fuel tank was full and hence the bike burst into flames. Some of the vile messages also say that the man riding this bike was burnt to a crisp when the bike caught fire. All of this is fake news and should not be believed by anyone.

This rumour seems to have originated from the popular advice of keeping your tire’s air pressure slightly low than the specified value in summers. This is said because air expands as the temperature around it gets hotter. When driving at high speeds for long, the temperature of the tire rises much more than what can be considered normal. This results in the expansion of air inside it and in the worst case scenarios, it leads to a tire burst. However, in no way does this mean that a vehicle’s fuel tank must not be filled to full capacity in summers. 

Before any car is launched in the market, it is developed from a paper design into a full-blown vehicle after a lot of R&D takes place. Some cars even take years to develop due to various issues which the manufacturers come across while developing them. Countless numbers of tests are conducted during the development process and this is one of the reasons why car’s cost so much. A thousand crore Rupees is the regular budget for a new car that has to be made from grounds up.

The point being emphasised here is that automakers make sure that every aspect of the car is taken care of and the recommended values issued by the manufacturers are safe to follow. Therefore, if your car’s manufacturer has stated that the car has a fuel tank of 35 litres, you can fill it to that capacity without any worry. Ironically, cars may be considered one of the most dangerous machines in the world as they keep a highly inflammable liquid just beside a chamber where fire explosions are taking place. But that is not the case as every component is thoroughly tested and designed in a way so as to keep the car going smoothly.