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Clean Hydrogen Partnership

FCEV driving away with the dispenser hose

Event

Event ID
706
Quality
Description
A driver of a fuel cells vehicle terminated the refuelling and drove away without disconnecting the fueling hose from its vehicle.
The breakaway of the fueling hose was supposed to open, but did not. The receptacle fitting sheared off the vehicle.
The hydrogen contained in the hose between the dispenser shutoff valve and the vehicle check valve was released.

[H2TOOLS]
Event Initiating system
Classification of the physical effects
Unignited Hydrogen Release
Nature of the consequences
Leak No Ignition (No additional details provided)
Macro-region
North America
Country
United States
Date
Main component involved?
Dispenser (Breakaway)
How was it involved?
Failure To Activate
Initiating cause
Unknown
Root causes
Unknown (No additional details provided)
Root CAUSE analysis
The INITIATING CAUSE was the tearing of the hose and the braking of the receptacle fitting on the vehicle.
The ROOT CAUSE was the error of the driver which forgot to disconnect the hose from the vehicle. CONTRIBUTING CAUSE was the fact that the breakaway system, designed to mitigate the consequences of these cases, did not operate as from design.
Tests of the breakaway, performed after event, showed that the breakaway operated at 210 lbs (95 kg), which was above the design value of 133 lbs (60 kg). This was very probable not a manufacturing error, but an installation error. It is further unclear who was supposed to detect this mishaps: could the station have performed regular check?

Facility

Application
Road Vehicles
Sub-application
FCEV (LDV)
Hydrogen supply chain stage
Hydrogen Transfer (No additional details provided)
All components affected
breakway, nozzle, receptacle, check valve
Location type
Open
Location description
Unknown
Operational condition

Emergency & Consequences

Number of injured persons
0
Number of fatalities
0

Event Nature

Release type
gas
Involved substances (% vol)
H2 100%
Presumed ignition source
No ignition

References

Reference & weblink

Events in database H2TOOLS<br />
https://h2tools.org/lessons/hydrogen-fueling-dispenser-nozzle-drive-awa… />
(accessed December 2025)

JRC assessment