New BMW 320d joins BMW diesel fleet with Incorrect Fuelling Protection System.
Mis-fuelling - that is, pumping the incorrect fuel into a diesel-engined vehicle - is a commonly experienced problem that can potentially cost owners of diesel-engined vehicles a lot of money.

It’s all too easy: Stop at the fuel pump in your new diesel-engined vehicle, insert the nozzle into the filler neck of the car and activate the trigger. Realisation that you’ve inadvertently filled with petrol rather than diesel usually comes too late - and if it does, the costs of fixing the resultant damage to the engine can be quite significant.

It is in recognition of this potential problem that BMW developed the Incorrect Fuelling Protection System (IFPS).

A clever redesign of the vehicle’s filler neck, IFPS avoids the problem of mis-fuelling simply by preventing the nozzle of a petrol pump from being used in a diesel-powered vehicle.

The system works via two opposing contact patches on the car's filler neck that can only be activated by the larger-diameter diesel pump nozzle. This contact releases a locking system that allows the nozzle to engage and pump diesel fuel into the tank.

The smaller-diameter petrol pump nozzle is not able to touch the contact patches, meaning the filler neck remains blocked to nozzle access, thereby protecting against mis-fuelling.

The problem has the potential to become significant in Australia as more new-car buyers who are normally accustomed to driving petrol-engined vehicles turn to more economical diesel power.

According to information provided by the United Kingdom’s Automobile Association, 150,000 cases of mis-fuelling occur in the UK alone every year.

The IFPS system is standard in the new BMW 320d and has been fitted to all diesel-engined BMW vehicles sold in Australia since March 2007, including the 120d, 520d, 530d, X3 2.0d, X3 3.0d, X5 3.0d and 3.0d Executive. The X5 3.0sd, to be launched next month, will also feature this system.

In terms of diesel sales, BMW is the leading premium car-maker in Australia, with 3711, or 21 per cent of the new vehicles it sold in 2007, being diesel powered.