A scary situation for any driver: your car starts malfunctioning on the freeway.
The reality is this could happen to any of us.
A Bay Area woman contacted 7 On Your Side after her car began having such problems after filling up.
It's uncertain why her car malfunctioned, but she believes it's tied to an issue with the fuel in her tank.
"It hopped like a bunny. I mean, it wasn't funny at the time. I was terrified," said Sabina James.
James said she filled up her tank at a Bay Area gas station on her way home from work. A few days later, she got on Interstate 580.
"When I was driving on the freeway, my car started losing power and the RPM started dropping. Then the car started hopping. I don't know how else to explain it. It literally hopped!" James recounted.
James said her car slowly started shutting down, but she managed to get off the freeway and make it home before it died.
"It was very scary. I was grateful it was a Sunday and the freeway wasn't that busy," James said.
Her car was towed to Ocean Honda dealership in Burlingame because she has a membership there to help with service repairs. There, a technician inspected and took a sample of her fuel.
"'Found fuel contaminated,'" said Ocean Honda's Service Director Lisa Mendez as she reviewed the vehicle service report.
"So, first of all, it smells like it has something else in it. It doesn't smell like full gasoline," Mendez said.
A bottle of fuel was sampled from James's car. Mendez says the technician's report indicated the sample contained water and sediment. She says that can happen for a variety of reasons, including material from the bottom of a storage tank or condensation buildup, adding that this would be the case unless James's fuel was tampered with by a third party.
"If they don't have pure fuel, then your engine can't run correctly. Then it starts to hop. That, to me, is like running out of gas. If you ever feel that jerking, it's a sign you're running out of gas or something is wrong with the fuel system," Mendez said.
"Unfortunately, this… it's a fluke. It's not that common," Mendez stated.
