On January 8, 2011, Mr. Tedjo Sunoto wrote a reader’s letter to Kompas regarding the margin between fuel tank capacity and fuel dispenser’s meter.

Below is the translation and brief summary of Mr. Tedjo Sunoto’s complaint:

Mr. Tedjo Sunoto refuelled his Nissan X-Trail car at the Danau Sunter Shell gasoline station and noticed that the dispenser meter had reached 67.76 litres while his car’s full fuel capacity is only 65 litres. When calling Shell, he merely received an apology and was told to report the case to Badan Metrologi Jakarta.

Shell’s Response (published in Kompas, January, 17 2011) – translated to English

Shell's Response to Kompas reader's Letter (Indonesian)

Spokesperson: Budiman Moerdijat (GM External Affairs and Communications, PT Shell Indonesia)

Referring to a reader’s letter published in  Kompas, January 8, 2011 entitled “Margin Between Fuel Tank Capacity and Gasoline Dispenser’s Meter” by Mr. Tedjo Sunoto, we would like to inform that Shell guarantees the accuracy of our fuel dispenser’s meter.
Following our standard operating procedure to maintain and ensure accuracy of our fuel dispenser’s meter, internally we conduct pump test twice a month and calibrated by Badan Metrologi every six (6) months.

Regarding the event  on November 27, 2010, at that time we have offered to conduct pump test as part of our standard operating procedure if we encounter customers who has concern over our fuel pump dispenser’s meter. We are currently still awaiting for confirmation regarding our proposed pump test to the customer.

We are also responsible to follow up with any customer complaints we receive and to ensure that the complaints are addressed appropriately. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience.

Article published by Otomotif Tabloid (Edition 37: XX) – translated to English

Otomotif Tabloid (Edition 37: XX) - Indonesian

Summary (translated into English)

A customer using Nissan X-Trail made a complaint to Shell retail site through Kompas Reader’s Letter on January 8, 2011. In his complaint, Mr. Tedjo Sunoto claimed to have been deceived while refueling at Shell Sunter retail site.

According to Mr. Tedjo, on November 27, 2010, he was surprised to see Shell’s dispenser meter has reached 67.76 litres but his car’s fuel tank was still not full. Mr. Tedjo was sure that his car’s maximum fuel tank capacity is only 65 litres. In addition, upon arrival at the retail site, his fuel tank meter showed that he still had at least 5 litres in the tank.

Mr. Tedjo called the retail site manager and at the same time confirmed to Nissan Sunter regarding the X-trail fuel capacity. Out of curiosity, Mr. Tedjo asked to fill his tank further until it was full. The result was that there was an additional 2.4 litres of Shell Super and the fuel dispenser meter reached 69.8 litres.

Otomotif tried to track the customer to his home address in Kelapa Gading to reconfirm about the case, however they were not successful in contacting Mr. Tedjo.

“Shell guarantees the accuracy of all our retail sites. We conduct pump test twice a month and calibrated by Badan Metrologi every six (6) months” stated Budiman Moerdijat, GM External Affairs and Communication, PT Shell Indonesia.

Otomotif Tabloid tried to get clarity of Nissan X-Trail’s fuel tank capacity as what is written on the car manual. The fuel tank capacity on the car manual is correct. However, we need to also calculate other components in the fuel tank system. Teddy Irawan, Vice President PT Nissan Motor Indonesia added “If we thoroughly measure the possibility from hose to fuel tank hole it can measure up to 75 litres.”

Many aspects in which we need to be brought into play when it comes to refueling. For instance, there is  a fuel volume increase of around 0.12% every 1 degree Celcius temperature increase. This is due to the molecular gas which expands as the temperature increases.