Hello,
Just wondered if anyone could advise why the fuel cut off would have been set off?

Mine seemingly out of the blue cut off the fuel and the car died, the doors unlocked and the lights came on all on there own . Thanks to a you tube video however, I managed to find the button under the front of the passenger seat, press it and all was then was fine.

Firstly I did not know cars had such a button even fitted, but am now wondering why it went off? There was a full plastic bottle of drink rolling around the passenger rear footwell, could that rolling forward and hitting it cause it to go off?

What ever it was I would recommend all getting to know its location just in case

The emergency cutoff is triggered by impact so a water bottle bouncing around might set it off. If you have kids like mine (dont give a fig). it would be worth putting some foam padding over the switch. It wont affect its operation in a crash but would keep errant water bottles at bay.

If you have crash and a fuel line is cut, petrol would continue to be sprayed over a wide area due to the fuel pump still running. The idea is to cut the feed to pump reducing the risk of a fire.


Its rare for one to trip accidently nowadays even with a loose bottle undear the set. Although you have proved it not imposable.

A sharp bump, such as a severe pothole, or a speed bump taken too fast could pop the switch.

Happens on my Microcar all the time, pot hole and engine dies.
Problem is on the Microcar it's under the bonnet so having to dive out in traffic pop the bonnet to reset the 'inertia' switch can be quite annoying for all!.


inside the switch is a ball bearing in a cage, any forced movement the bearing rattles the cage breaking the switch contacts, shutting off or telling the ECU to shut off fuel etc.
when you press reset the ball bearing is forced to the bottom of the cage, making the contacts once again.

All fuel injected engines have or should have some kind of inertia switch fitted.