Has anyone noticed inaccuracy in the amount of gas dispensed at the pump? (how much)

[MichelleEllyn]

My husband often lets his truck go to "E" and then fills it up. The thing is, he drives a pick up truck with a 15 gallon tank, and a lot of times the pump reads that he's dispensed up to 18 gallons.

My Toyota Echo is supposed to have a 10 gallon tank, but I've seen the gas pump meter go past 11 or 12 gallons when filling up.

Any ideas what's going on here? Am I just being naive as to the mechanics of how much gas goes in a car or what?

[North Beach Person]

No. The tank capacity is somewhat nominal and the pump shuts off automatically. Every Ford I've had can take up to 3 more gallons after the pump shuts off. That's done for various pollution reasons.

[Eldemila]

I've noticed since moving here it's happen too many times. I'll hit E, or almost at E and go fill up and it will say I put in more gallons than my cars capacity, even with knowing there's a couple gallons still left.

[shamrocker]

I've not noticed it myself, but are you sure about the gas tank capacities in your vehicles? The Echo has a 11.9 gallon tank, so that might explain the discrepancy.

[bikeoid]

If you ever dispense more than your car's capacity, there's definitely a problem. Note the date, time station, and pump number and notify the SC Ag dept responsible for this:

SC Department of Agriculture Petroleum Inspections and Analysis

There's a link on that page to report a problem at the pump. If they get multiple reports from the same station, they can be sure there's a problem. Otherwise, they'll do a random check with a calibrated vehicle fill-up.

If it's a corrupt operator as opposed to a broken meter, the operator can flip a switch to force a temporary different gallon rate while you're pumping.

From the page FAQ:

If my vehicle is supposed to hold 19 gallons of fuel, but I pump 20 gallons in the tank, is the station dispenser inaccurate?
The manufacturer specifies the approximate size of the fuel tank in the specifications. However, through the manufacturing process fuel tank sizes vary. Fuel tanks on vehicles are also designed with an area for expansion. When we investigate these types of complaints, in the vast majority of the cases, we do not find anything wrong with the dispenser.

[Eldemila]

I reported a station when I first got up here, I knew it was wrong. Never heard anything back. Haven't bothered since. Happened a few times in FL - one pump, I stopped pumping, and it was going, slowly, but going. Whenever I did have to call down in FL I always got a reply back. Here, nothing. Seems to happen with smaller chains from what I've experienced. That "cheaper gas" seems to always cost me more in the end. You think you're saving a few cents on the gallon, NOT.