Easy fuel filling

Even if the price of petrol at the pump really stinks, at least your hands won’t after you have finished filling up your car.

All thanks to engineers at Ford who have developed the so-called Easy Fuel capless fuel-filler system, a novel design that uses an integrated spring-loaded flapper door to eliminate the need for a fuel tank screw cap.

Ford’s plans to offer the Easy Fuel system as standard equipment across the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury product lineups. It will be launched on the 2008 Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer and will be joined by the all-new 2009 Ford Flex, Ford F-150 and Lincoln MKS this summer.

When Ford measured customer response to the system in focus group studies, 75 percent of women and 67 percent of men expressed a particularly high interest regardless of demographic or vehicle segment. ‘People noted that it was very useful and a time saver and considered the fact that their hands didn’t get dirty to be a major attraction,’ said Pamela Wylie, Ford technology planning manager.