Driver anger as petrol stops cars

Car owners in southwest China's Yunnan and Guizhou provinces are reporting problems with their cars after filling up with 93-octane petrol, China National Radio said yesterday.

The complaints follow confusion in Shanghai after drivers noticed different colors of petrol when they were filling up, sparking concern over quality.

Check-ups at garages in the provinces suggested that the problems, which included excessive carbon emissions, unstable idling speeds, and even engine failure, were caused by the gasoline, including some provided by China's two biggest oil companies, PetroChina and Sinopec.

A taxi driver surnamed Shu from Hongjing city in Yunnan Province, whose new car failed to start after he filled it up with petrol, was the first to report such cases to the radio station. He recalled that he had difficulty starting his car a few days earlier and had noticed the idling speed was erratic after using the same type of fuel.

The problem petrol, which Shu's mechanic found "gluey," was from a privately owned petrol station, but similar complaints also involved service stations operated by local branches of Sinopec and PetroChina.

Officials in Kunming, Yunnan's capital, said it was difficult to identify the source of the problem fuel as most car owners filled their tanks when they were half full.

The city's Industry and Commerce Administration has begun inspecting samples at petrol stations and said it would reveal the test results soon.