Why are gas filler caps not all on the driver’s side? It would be so much more efficient at gas stations if all cars faced the same way, safer and easier on everyone. for what possible reason would the filler cap be on passenger
side. I refuse to buy a car with it on the wrong side.
“Wrong side” is relative only to you. The location of the fuel filler is based on packaging of the car, period. They are generally located on the opposite side of the exhaust, for obvious reasons. Depending on the car that can vary from left to right. My last 2 European cars had passenger side fillers because the exhaust exits were to the drivers side. Both my American cars were driver’s side even though the Mustang has dual mufflers.
I really enjoy it when a manufacturer puts a small arrow on the fuel gauge that points to the side of the filler, Fords for one, do that.
You are saying that if a vehicle meet all of your requirements and had a really good price you would not buy it just because you can’t look at the fuel gauge and see the little arrow pointing to the side that has the filler cap . One of ours has it on the right side and the other on the left and it is not a big deal.
I really don’t care what side the fuel filler door is on
That’s not going to play any role, when I buy my next car
I just plan accordingly, when I pull up to the pump, so that the filling nozzle is right next to the fuel door
But the filler hoses at Costco are long enough, so that even if you didn’t plan accordingly, it doesn’t really matter
I suspect Europeans insist on the filler on the side opposite the driver so people adding gas by the side of the road don’t get hit by passing traffic, but that could be completely wrong. Anyway, there are much more important issues you should consider when choosing a new car.
Some years back, Consumer Reports argued that the gas filler door should be on the right side as some research showed that a car was more likely to be hit or sideswiped on the left side.
Or you could just drive an old Jaguar XJ6 and have a filler cap on both sides.
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It’s been over 100 years, and auto makers have not been able to standardize on which side the gas filler is on.
We are lucky they standardized on 4 wheels (mostly).
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What about the Brits? Cars sold in the UK are right hand drive, not left, so the filler would then be on the driver’s side. RHD is a big enough headache without stamping new fenders, fuel door and re-routing the fuel inlet to a new gas tank.
I don’t think that’s the reason. If it was, the French would require it be on the driver’s side just to be different because they are French.
I thought all cars sold in the US had a little arrow on the fuel gauge to indicate which side the filler is on. I guess if you don’t know what the arrow is for I guess you could ask someone. Or you could just come here and complain that different cars are…well…different.
I wish that were true! My GM SUv does not have that arrow. I don’t remember ever seeing a GM vehicle that did. My Fords have had it since our 1993 Taurus SHO as does our Audi. Our Saab, a 2001, did not. Used to mess me up regularly. I’d hit the gas door release button so I could hear the pop so I’d pull in to the pump on the right side.
My imperfect memory says there are more cars in the US with the cap on the driver’s side than the passenger side.
Soooooo… having a car with it on the passenger side can mean shorter lines at gas stations.
But since gas pumps have 2 sides, if all fillers were on the left side half of the cars would be facing one way and half the other way.
Yup!
Because I drive a Subaru–whose gas filler is on the passenger side of the car–I encounter MUCH shorter lines at gas stations. In most cases, the only other cars that are jockeying for the same pumps are BMWs.
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no, my last 5 cars has it on the passenger side.
Subaru, VW, VW, VW, VW.
Where’d you get that idea
Our fleet vehicles are almost exclusively domestic, and they don’t have the arrow
On most gas stations around here you can enter from both directions, and can choose one side of the pump or the other side, so there wouldn’t be much help to configure all cars w/the gas cap on the same side, b/c you’d still wind up with one car face to face w/ another sometimes even if the caps were on the same side. However I can see in some configurations where it might make sense, where there’s only one entrance point and one exit point for example.
I have enough times at costco I am filling up on the pump at the right and the fuel tank fill on the left because the hose reaches, and no one wants to stretch the hose. Wish costco had windshield washer stuff!
Most gas stations have hoses long enough that it doesn’t matter, but I suspect a very significant number of drivers don’t have the strength or physical agility to pull a hose around the car and get it into the filler.
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Someone here knows. It’s come up before. I think it is on the opposite side of the exhaust system so it is style or engineering issue. I have one of each so a few times I’ve had to go turn the car around again. My Olds was in the center which made the most sense and didn’t rust the quarter panel.