True... however, as my mother used to say, locks only keep the honest people honest.philipa_240sx wrote:IMHO, a remote release gas door isn't a deterrent. It's easily defeated with a screwdriver or a pry bar.
If nothing else I prefer to have a locking gas door to keep kids from screwing around... i.e. dropping or dumping something into the gas tank just because they can. Granted... if someone wants to steal your gas... a flimsy fuel door certainly isn't going to stop them. Considering the damage a pry bar could do to your paint job... it might be painful to loose a tank of gas, but a lot less painful than having to file an insurance claim and have your car repainted.
For that matter its the same with a locking gas cap... (keeps the honest people honest) they are going to stop a determined crook. A good pair of Groove Joint Pliers will have that cap off in a heart-beat.
I guess the safest route (to protect your vehicle from damage) would be a non-locking fuel door like we have on the Rogue... (so anyone can open it), but... a locking gas cap to deter the kids and crooks prepared to siphon gas but don't have the proper tools to pull off a locking gas gap. Hopefully they'll just move to the next car.
The only problem with this approach is the Rogues temperamental reaction to gas caps and the check engine light when the gas cap isn't "just right"
Modified by Elton Noway at 9:31 AM 6/17/2009