Autocar magazine has presented Ford with the "Idea Of The Year Award" for its Easy Fuel Concept, a simple device that prevents drivers from accidentally filling their diesel car with petrol. The award was made to Ford at the annual Autocar awards ceremony held in London on Monday 14th November 2005.
Autocar editor, Rob Aherne said: "If simplicity is the essence of a great invention then Ford’s Easy Fuel Concept must be one of the best. It has the potential to prevent the inconvenience and expensive repair bills associated with filling a diesel car with petrol. We think it is ingeniously designed and a worthy winner of the Autocar idea of the year".
The Ford Easy Fuel Concept is a clever piece of design and requires expert and precision manufacture. Essentially it is a mechanism that confirms a pump nozzle is of the correct size before it opens, thus rejecting smaller petrol nozzles.
On collecting the award, Stefan Buro, Ford’s Fuel Systems Engineer, said: "We are delighted to accept this Autocar Award. We at Ford are keen to make motoring as problem free as we can by constantly evolving our product design and integrating ideas such as the Easy Fuel Concept".
Ten years ago the nozzle diameter on petrol vehicles was reduced to stop drivers accidentally filling up with diesel. Latest research by Ford suggests that here in Britain 150,000 people a year are still putting petrol in diesel cars which current technology cannot prevent. With the diesel market growing it’s an ever increasing problem.
Ford will commence fitting the Easy Fuel Concept into their cars within two years.
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