Yes, there is an arrow on the fuel gauge showing which side the filler is on, and yes, it might be safer for the once in a lifetime refueling of a car out of gas, but my objection is convenience. I don’t like facing a majority of cars who are coming at me on both sides of the pumps. I find myself waiting some distance from the pump so the current customer can get past me, and then someone pulls in from the opposite direction and I’m left seething. I don’t like having to walk around the car to reach the fuel filler. On trips, I leave my wallet on the dash. If I forget to grab it when I exit the car, I have to walk back to the driver’s side to get in. Lastly, when I open my door it’s not towards the gas pump, it’s toward the guy who’s using the adjacent pumps. Chances are pretty good for a conflict of doors, and my wife likes the relative privacy afforded by that little space between the pump and car, which she doesn’t have to leave in order to pump fuel.
In case you are ever in doubt the gas gauge on most modern cars have an arrow indicating what side the filler is on, wonder if the arrow would point down for some of my old cars that you lowered the licence plate to access the gas cap.
Over the years I have owned a great many vehicles and don’t recall a single one that filled up on the passenger side although I have driven a few that did and it was quite annoying to deal with the situation when most self service lanes are lined up with vehicles with the filler on the driver’s side. I have backed into and through a lane to get gas to avoid the hassle.
I’ve never owned a vehicle with the filler on the passenger side that I can recall, but I used to rent cars often on business trips and always tried to remember to check which side the filler was on before driving off. There are many stations that line the cars up at their pumps, and not all of them have hoses long enough to make filling the tank up on the side opposite the pump anything less than difficult. The retraction systems for the hoses often are quite strong when t he hose is extended across a full size sedan.
I recall some self service gas stations with the hoses suspended from a boom swivelling over the lane to make filling from either side simple and easy. No doubt motorhomes and U-Haul trucks took a few out. So much for a good idea.
If you go to a Costco gas station, in addition to–most likely–having the cheapest Top Tier gas in the area, you will find that all of their pump hoses are long enough to reach either side of a vehicle, and they even have signs announcing this reality for those who are newcomers to their stations.
And, just for the record, BMWs and Subarus all have their gas fillers on the passenger side of the vehicle. There may well be other makes like that, but I can state with confidence that both of those makes put their gas fillers on the passenger side of the vehicle.
Leaving your wallet on the dash just does not seem like a good idea.
Other than dragging up an old thread we have one vehicle with fuel filler on passenger side. I don’t have a problem with it.
My guess is it’s between your knees.
my cars for the last 40 years were all right hand fillers. (VW and Subu)
And I never had any problem at any gas station.
In many states it’s against the law going over the car with the filling hose.
Is that behind your tail lights?
The 13,000rpm red line makes me think the tachometer is on a motorcycle.
Ding ding ding! We have a winner!
How many people have actually been cited for it though? An unenforced law is effectively no law, like people openly smoking pot at rock concerts in many cities.
Nice catch, Rod.
At selfserve? - Probably never. But a place like CostCo that actually directs you to the station that forces you to break the law, no way would they take that liability.
My sons Mazda fill size is opposite mine. One of the first times I added gas to it I drove to wrong side and proceeded to bring hose to opposite side - at which an employee tells me they can’t turn the pump on until I move to correct side for that vehicle.
What an inane regulation. Is there any idea for the reasoning behind that? How do they enforce it if you’re getting gas when there is no one on duty at the gas station?
I’ve seen too many insane regulations over the years. Just shrug my shoulders and move on.
I am just thinking that the thought is that someone could possibly cause a hose leak by pulling to hard to reach fuel filling pipe. Or could be knocked loose and not shut off putting fuel every where. Granted these might not happen but as we all say at one time or another ( how the heck did they do that ?).