Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure vehicles on rubber tires are particularly well grounded.

"grounding" in this case refers to equalising the potential difference.

You are.

Normal tires have carbon added to the rubber to make them slightly conductive, enough to drain static.

Specialty tires like you find on drag cars do not. This is why you also see grounding straps dangling from drag cars -- to keep the driver from getting a shock when they step out after a run.

These days the filler tube on the car is made of plastic so it's less important. I did get yelled at for not putting a (plastic) fuel container on the ground "to ground it" before filling it, so the rituals persist even when the root cause has been resolved.

Absolutely, yeah, you’re supposed to! People don’t, though, hence the (still small) fire risk.

As if anybody is going to remember that.