Truck "refuel" may not be a plot hole

In the "Goofs" section, it states that the panel truck should have run out of fuel since the engine was on when the two men succumbed to Andromeda. This may not have been a plot hole at all. If the truck had a manual transmission and was in gear when the driver died, the engine would have "died" quickly as well. Therefore, no fuel would have been consumed.

Few people today drive manual, so I can understand why someone might not consider this possibility. For the truly assiduous "goof" finder, the key is to figure out what model truck is being used and whether it was available in a manual. I'd guess that truck almost certainly was available in manual, which was very common back then, particularly in trucks.

I will note that I've driven manuals all my life - just recently bought a 2014 Accord LX 6-speed manual. It's becoming harder and harder to buy manuals and auto makers seem to want to take more control away. The new model LX has something called "hill start assist". I found it offensive - if you know how to drive standard, you also know how to use the hand brake. Hill start assist just gets in the way. Worse, when applying the hand brake, a nasty beeping sound is emitted. Use of the handbrake is a key control element. Then there's the "automatic stability control", which I turn off just as soon as I can. The ASC can fatally interfere with going into skids. I've avoided a couple of accidents by going into controlled skids. I attempted a skid with stability control on as a test. Handbrake beeped and the car shuddered as it vainly attempted to prevent me from doing what I wanted to do. It was a completely unsatisfactory skid.

All of these features don't make the car safer - they are designed to protect drivers who should really be driving automatics and, frankly, don't know how to drive manual.

My previous LX was a 2002 5-speed which I traded in at the 255K mark on the aforementioned 2014. Avoided sliding off the road into a snow bank last winter by turning a "hockey puck" skid (that's when you lose traction with the front driving wheels) into a conventional skid (rear end breaks loose). It happened when I was going down hill and there was a 90-degree turn at the bottom. There was ice under the snow and I started to slide. There's no easy way out of the hockey puck so I kicked it into a side skid which allowed the front wheels to regain traction and pull me into the turn. Avoided having to call AAA to pull haul me out of the snow.

I see this has turned into a rant...

Apologies.