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| - Fact Check: No, Indian Oil Corporation never said filling car's fuel tank to full capacity causes explosions
A viral social media post claims that IOC has warned against filling a car's fuel tank to its maximum capacity as it can cause an explosion during the summer months. The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be false.
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India Today Fact Check
The postcard is fake and has been in circulation for years now. IOC denied releasing any such statement. It added it is perfectly safe to fill fuel tanks to their maximum capacity.
At a time when the fuel price hike is among the most discussed subjects on social media, a message, supposedly from the Indian Oil Corporation, has gone viral.
The viral post read,“The temperature is set to rise in the coming days, so do not fill petrol in your vehicle to the maximum limit. This can cause an explosion in the fuel tank. Please fill half the tank of fuel in your vehicle and keep room for air.
The message further said, “This week 5 explosion accidents have been caused due to filling of maximum petrol. Please open the petrol tank once a day and let the gas build up inside come out. Note: Send this message to your family members and everyone else, so that people can avoid this accident. Thank you.”
Similar claims have been archived here and here.
The India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim was false and that Indian Oil never made any claim of this sort.
AFWA Probe
We started our investigation by looking for news stories about the five supposed vehicle explosions mentioned in the message. But we found nothing that pointed to vehicular explosions caused by full tanks of fuel.
A keyword search on Google took us to a tweet from the official handle of the Indian Oil Corp Ltd. On June 3, 2019, the IOC tweeted: “Important announcement from #IndianOil. It is perfectly safe to fill fuel in vehicles up to the limit (max) as specified by the manufacturer irrespective of winter or summer.”
The statement also said, "Automobile manufacturers design their vehicles considering all aspects of performance requirements, claims and ambient conditions with built-in safety factors. The maximum volume specified in the fuel tank for petrol/diesel vehicles is no exception. It is therefore perfectly safe to fill the fuel in vehicles up to the full limit (max.) as specified by the manufacturer irrespective of winter or summer.”
Important announcement from #IndianOil. It is perfectly safe to fill fuel in vehicles up to the limit(max) as specified by the manufacturer irrespective of winter or summer. pic.twitter.com/uwQFDtjTdi — Indian Oil Corp Ltd (@IndianOilcl) June 3, 2019
This almost-three-year-old tweet proved not just that the claim was a hoax, but also that this hoax was not a new one. IOC also released a similar statement on its verified Facebook page on April 9, 2022.
It is thus clear that the claim that filling fuel tanks to their maximum capacities is patently false. And Indian Oil never made any such claim at all.
(With inputs from Yash Mittal in New Delhi)
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