[santraginean]

What I read back when the bans were lifted around here was that cell phone use correlated with people opening the car door and rummaging around, which created a static electricity buildup, and that that was the real fire risk.

[bluedino]

You’re supposed to ground yourself by touching your vehicles before the gas pump

Source: workplace safety videos I was forced to watch, years ago

[davrosthedalek]

I'm not sure vehicles on rubber tires are particularly well grounded.

[myself248]

Normal tires have carbon added to the rubber to make them slightly conductive, enough to drain static.

Specialty tires like you find on drag cars do not. This is why you also see grounding straps dangling from drag cars -- to keep the driver from getting a shock when they step out after a run.

[userbinator]

"grounding" in this case refers to equalising the potential difference.

[dredmorbius]

You are.

[taneq]

These days the filler tube on the car is made of plastic so it's less important. I did get yelled at for not putting a (plastic) fuel container on the ground "to ground it" before filling it, so the rituals persist even when the root cause has been resolved.

[santraginean]

Absolutely, yeah, you’re supposed to! People don’t, though, hence the (still small) fire risk.

[TwoBit]

As if anybody is going to remember that.

[rangibaby]

Gas pumps where I live have a piece of metal you can touch to ground yourself

[galphanet]

When you fill in an.airplane, you need to ground it with a special cable that comes with the pump.