Thought you guys might want to know this since alot of you may be passing through on the way to the nats. It got me last week.
05:56 PM EDT on Monday, May 17, 2004
By TONY HYATT / WHAS11 News
It’s been busy at Neil Huffman’s service department since last week. Cars are coming in with the same problem: Their gas gauges show half-full, yet the cars run out of gas.
“It’s an electronic transmitter and it transmits up to your dash or wherever how much fuel’s in the tank of the vehicle. And when it fails, it’s gonna have a false reading on the dash of the vehicle,” says Service Manager Jim Webb. “You’re not gonna be aware that you’re out of fuel until it’s too late.”
More than 30 cars have rolled in because of the gas gauge. Other shops in town are reporting the same thing. On average, it costs anywhere form $300 to $500 to repair.
Right now, it’s a mystery as to why it’s happening – but it is happening.
“I give ‘em gas and maybe put a little in their carburetor and they would fire right up and go, even though their gauges were showing half tanks, quarter tanks,” says Larry Trowbridge of Freeway Friends.
Marc Breit is driving a loaner car. His Cadillac Escalade quit running Friday afternoon. But that’s only half of his problem.
“The very next day, our Chrysler van, which is three years old, died the very same way, and apparently it’s been diagnosed with the same problem” Breit says.
“Numbers that are generating currently are so high in such a short period of time, which suggests that something is being introduced into vehicles that’s actually causing the problem,” says Assistant Kentucky Attorney General Harold Turner.
By noon, the attorney general’s office had about 25 calls concerning this problem. The Kentucky Agricultural Department, which regulates the quality of gasoline in the state, is planning on doing spot checks on Jefferson County stations in the next 24 hours, wanting to know where some of these cars have been.
05:56 PM EDT on Monday, May 17, 2004
By TONY HYATT / WHAS11 News
It’s been busy at Neil Huffman’s service department since last week. Cars are coming in with the same problem: Their gas gauges show half-full, yet the cars run out of gas.
“It’s an electronic transmitter and it transmits up to your dash or wherever how much fuel’s in the tank of the vehicle. And when it fails, it’s gonna have a false reading on the dash of the vehicle,” says Service Manager Jim Webb. “You’re not gonna be aware that you’re out of fuel until it’s too late.”
More than 30 cars have rolled in because of the gas gauge. Other shops in town are reporting the same thing. On average, it costs anywhere form $300 to $500 to repair.
Right now, it’s a mystery as to why it’s happening – but it is happening.
“I give ‘em gas and maybe put a little in their carburetor and they would fire right up and go, even though their gauges were showing half tanks, quarter tanks,” says Larry Trowbridge of Freeway Friends.
Marc Breit is driving a loaner car. His Cadillac Escalade quit running Friday afternoon. But that’s only half of his problem.
“The very next day, our Chrysler van, which is three years old, died the very same way, and apparently it’s been diagnosed with the same problem” Breit says.
“Numbers that are generating currently are so high in such a short period of time, which suggests that something is being introduced into vehicles that’s actually causing the problem,” says Assistant Kentucky Attorney General Harold Turner.
By noon, the attorney general’s office had about 25 calls concerning this problem. The Kentucky Agricultural Department, which regulates the quality of gasoline in the state, is planning on doing spot checks on Jefferson County stations in the next 24 hours, wanting to know where some of these cars have been.
