So BMW, being everso German and everso efficient have now made a system standard on all their diesel models to prevent you from putting the wrong kind of fuel in the tank.
BMW touts this as being the manufacturer-equipped system to “prevent cases of misfuelling at the pump and its far-reaching consequences.” Right. If you’ve ever put gasoline in a diesel, or even worse put diesel into a gas-burning car, you know what a HUGE mistake this is. Tank, fuel lines, injectors … those are ALL coming out, getting cleaned, blown out, run through the parts washer, and in a lot of cases replaced at great cost to you.
You only have to be around this kind of mistake once, or even worse, make this mistake yourself once to never, ever do it again.
But seriously, just how dumb does BMW think we are? Well let’s see.
Look, I understand, mistakes can happen, but just how much of a brain dead pump-jockey do you have to be to do something like but unleaded into a diesel tank? Not only are things color-coded but the nozzles are completely different sizes. You have to work hard to screw it up … but this is, after all, America. The country that invented the term “fool proof”, and invented it with good reason.
Remember a few years ago when Honda had to do a recall for seatbelt buckles coming unlatched? Honda found out that it wasn’t the buckles, they were using the same type worldwide. The found out that it was the “typical American driver” who would do things like swing by the drive through for the 16th time that week, and bits of lettuce and French fry would fall into the seat belt buckle and cause it to fail.
You think Honda had a shot at explaining that as a justifiable reason to the feds? Yeah, good luck with that. Honda had to do a complete redesign to compensate for the brains connected to our couch-shaped asses.
So, I can understand where BMW is coming from. You can all most see the engineering review meeting back in Der Fatherland.
“Zo, vee vill be pressing ahead mit out plans to roll out the neu diesels into the North American market, jah?”
“Jah, but vait a moment. Ve are going to zell the diesel to ze Americans?”
“Jah.”
“Do ze know how to properly fill ze tank?”
“Good point! Dieter! Get ze boys down in R und D to rig up some devices to help them mit der proper fueling procedure. MACH SCHNEL!!”
