
Why Some Cars Have Gas Tank Fillers on the Left or the Right - curtis
http://jalopnik.com/why-some-cars-have-gas-tank-fillers-on-the-left-or-the-1792790492
======
wrs
I was expecting a mention of the little tank-and-arrow icon on the gas gauge
that tells you what side the filler door is on. _Years_ of renting cars and
randomly switching directions at gas stations before someone told me about
that...

~~~
vinhboy
This is one example of how cars have the most horrible UI/UX ever.

~~~
quanticle
I have to disagree. I think cars have pretty great UX. Do you remember
learning to drive? At any point, was there any doubt as to what turning the
steering wheel right or left would do? At any point, was there any doubt as to
what the pedals did? Or the gear shifter? Or turn signals? The easiest, most
intuitive software _wishes_ it could be as immediately understandable as the
control system for an automobile.

~~~
Arizhel
Much of that stuff has been standardized over a _century_. They weren't always
that way on all cars.

For example, you cite the steering wheel as intuitive and obvious. It's
actually not: in many early cars, there was no steering wheel. They had a
"tiller" instead (a lever that you pushed from side to side to steer). There
was a _huge_ debate at the time over whether tillers or steering wheels were
better. Obviously, the steering wheel won out, but if you could transport some
people from 1895 to today, they'll complain that tillers should have been used
instead.

The gear shifter is another example. If you drive a stick, you probably take
it for granted that the gearshift is a lever in the middle between the seats.
It wasn't that long ago that some cars and trucks had "3 on the column": the
gearshift (manual transmission) was on the steering column. And automatic
transmission gearshifts on the column persisted much longer than that; I think
it took until the 90s for them to finally die out.

Turn signals aren't that obvious either; you're just used to them. My mom got
a ticket in 1965 because her boss gave her his car keys to drive his car
somewhere nearby. She had never driven a car before, only ridden as a
passenger, but of course didn't tell him this because it would look really
bad. She managed driving it ok (steering, gas), probably because she had
watched others do it, but she screwed up with the turn signals and signaled
the wrong direction for a turn while a cop was looking.

Most "intuitive" things aren't intuitive at all; people are just used to them
because they're more or less standardized, and people have gotten used to them
or have watched other people use them and learned that way. Take some
primitive person from the Amazon rainforest who's never even seen a car and
stick him in one (on a closed track) and see how well he figures out how to
operate it. If he can't figure it out very quickly with zero instruction, then
it's not "intuitive".

~~~
Avernar
Can you imagine a head on collision with a tiller instead of a wheel?
Especially before seat belts became mandatory.

And forget about an air bag in there. Might as well put a bullet in there
instead and finish off he driver before he impaled himself.

~~~
Arizhel
I never said it really was superior, just that some people (living around
1900) thought so. Also, we're talking about how "intuitive" a user interface
is here, not about the safety implications. It took many decades for cars to
finally get airbags, collapsible steering columns, etc. It was quite routine
for people to be impaled on steering columns until the late 20th century.

~~~
Avernar
I wasn't arguing about superiority. It was just a though of what things would
be like if it had gone the other way.

Speaking of intuitive, a tiller on a car is only intuitive if you've used it
on a boat. Pushing the lever in the opposite direction of where you want to go
is counter-intuitive.

------
vinceguidry
There's something about cars that leads people who write about them to adopt a
wonderfully refreshing and engaging tone. It's like they all listened to Car
Talk way back when and took copious notes. You don't see this with other
topics.

~~~
JBReefer
I don't love cars, but I _love_ Top Gear. It's got that tone you describe,
sort of breezy and light but about something real.

Like the sister comment said, maybe it's vessels, because aviation news can be
similar. I don't know why, but it's one of the last things untainted by
politics and division.

~~~
vinceguidry
At first I had it worked back to America's tinkering past. I don't make that
association, so I find the tone really interesting, but I can see how it would
be easy to get a sense of Wilbur and Orville Wright building their first
aircraft and feeling the joy of moving in a manner you've never moved before.

But the vessel angle is interesting too.

------
Theodores
When heroin hit the streets back in the 1980's and burglary/theft became a
thing, cars in the UK, built for the UK market with the fuel filler cap on the
left would be the ones targeted by thieves. So the filler cap might have been
in a great position for when stranded on the motorway due to lack of fuel but
it was also in a position convenient for thieves. The first scenario can be
avoided by looking at the fuel gauge, the second scenario couldn't really be
avoided if junkies roamed the streets every night. You could park the other
way round to make the fuel filler cap be road side, but that might not be
practical.

I remember when my boss's 'Transit' van was raided for fuel during these high
crime times, all the thieves had to do was pull a tube from under the bonnet.
I don't think they even had to siphon anything and the filler cap made no
difference.

Before this crime wave the idea of locking a petrol tank seemed a bit
excessive, who would want to steal petrol, particularly if they had to siphon
it and could get caught for stealing? Much more convenient (and affordable) to
buy one's own. But then this crime wave of heroin addicts happened so common
sense no longer mattered, things had to be zombie-proofed and the idea of an
unlocked fuel filler cap now started to seem crazy. Who would invite the world
to steal their petrol?

This crime wave also came at a time when people started being truly mobile for
work, driving everywhere. No longer did you have the community of normal
people walking the streets to make it difficult for thieves, we started to
hide inside behind burglar alarms and CCTV. I preferred the former security
model where everyone knew everyone else's movements and gossip with strangers
duly noted, but such is progress. Note lead was in fuel back then too.

So in the UK it was the natively built Ford and Vauxhall models that were ripe
for being raided and the hidden location of the fuel tank made matters worse.
Fancier targets, e.g. BMW, would not get attacked even though they contained
fuel too, it was the lock on the cap security plus the location that made the
difference.

~~~
ThrustVectoring
Parking the other way around is a parking violation in most jurisdictions,
IIRC.

~~~
alexfoo
In the UK it's "You MUST NOT park on a road at night facing against the
direction of the traffic flow unless in a recognised parking space."

Source: [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/waiting-and-
par...](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/waiting-and-
parking-238-to-252)

It's all to do with visibility. The rear light clusters have reflectors built
in to them, the front light clusters do not.

~~~
gcoleman
I have driven in the UK for 12 years and genuinely have never heard of that
rule (obviously did not study the highway code well enough before the test).

Do people actually pay any attention to it?

------
caf
_Imagine, the lazy joy of Jaguar owners who could fill up either way!_

Well, considering how frequently Jaguar owners have to fill up, it seems only
reasonable that the cars are optimised for the convenience of doing so.

------
cptskippy
They need to standardize many characteristics of the filler port beyond which
side of the car it's located so that they can have an automatic fill station
robots.

When my self driving car shows up, I'll be damned if it's going to have to
drive me to the gas station so that I can fill it up.

------
cr0sh
Skimmed thru the article, and didn't read the comments - so maybe I missed it
somewhere - but I once read a story in an old issue of Popular Science (1940s
or 50s), probably "The Model Garage" (my favorite part of that era's magazine)
- where the explanation given as to which side the filler was on seemed
logical enough (perhaps for the time - but it still seems to hold on most
vehicles today):

The filler is always on the opposite side of where the exhaust pipe is routed.

Granted, this doesn't help if you have dual tailpipes (though usually the pipe
is y-split just before the output), or if you have dual straight-pipes (I
don't believe any production vehicles have this as an option - it is usually
an aftermarket performance mod).

But ultimately - the explanation was with the filler opposite that of the
exhaust pipe, you decrease the issue of the heat from the pipe, or leaks from
the filler, becoming a dangerous combination.

That said - now that I think about it (I guess I'll need to crawl back under),
my Isuzu VehiCROSS has the exhaust running down the passenger side, and the
filler is on that same side. However, the exhaust is routed out the left
(driver) side - I'm not sure how the filler pipe and everything else fits in
there.

Knowing the VX, though - given its "odd-duck" and somewhat hand-built "custom"
status in the car world (rumor has it that with so few built, an assembly line
wasn't created for them, and they were all hand assembled; it's known that a
ton of parts for them are the same between the VX and Rodeo/Trooper/Hombre) -
there's a good chance the routing isn't "optimal" (I just had a custom heat
shield made to fit between the exhaust and a connector for the TOD module -
owners have had it melt and water intrude into the connector - burning it and
sometimes the module out - and given that they aren't exactly easy to
obtain...well, I wanted to protect it from that possibility).

------
repsilat
I'm really surprised no jurisdiction (California, probably...) has said, "by
2020 all new cars must fill on _insert side_ for _insert reason_."

The problem would be quickly and cheaply resolved as a result.

Related: [https://medium.com/incerto/the-most-intolerant-wins-the-
dict...](https://medium.com/incerto/the-most-intolerant-wins-the-dictatorship-
of-the-small-minority-3f1f83ce4e15)

~~~
askvictor
Why is it a good thing to standardise? Given that most petrol stations have
equal access for both sides, you'd start losing efficiency once the number of
standardised cars reached a certain proportion. I figure that by that point,
electric cars will have rendered this obsolete. If the entire nature of
transportation hasn't changed by that point. And civilisation as we know it
still exists.

~~~
yes_or_gnome
In California (at least), the pumps work regardless of which side the car is
parked on. The hoses are longer and the hands free mechanism is very different
from the east coast. Actually, I prefer to extend the hose over the car as it
feels more sturdy. So, dictating which side the fuel door is on doesn't
necessarily create gas pump asymmetry.

~~~
Broken_Hippo
If that were the standard, it would no longer matter which side the hose is
on. I'm from the midwest: If you pull into a gas station, it is highly
unlikely that the hose will stretch across the car.

I'd report on the hoses here in Norway, but honestly I haven't driven since I
moved here a few years back.

~~~
lb1lf
Norwegian hoses are, in general, too short to reach over the car. (If they're
long enough, you've probably wound up at a truck pump, and had better think
twice before pulling the trigger on the filler pistol...)

My filler cap is on the left (Toyota Land Cruiser); my wife cannot remember
which side the cap is on, but she DOES remember that she can spot the lid
using the mirrors, so we're both happy.

~~~
Broken_Hippo
That is very very helpful, thank you! And I'll definitely try to avoid the
truck fuel.

Well, it _will_ be helpful once I am legal to drive. Both my spouse and I
forgot about my driving - he didn't own a car when I moved (we own a cheap one
now). Quite unfortunate, considering the cost of driving classes, but probably
a plus considering winter driving seems a slightly different beast
comparatively..

~~~
lb1lf
Winter driving is a slightly different beast indeed; however, a lot is
achieved if one makes an effort to drive more passively - increasing the
distance to the car in front, start braking early, &c.

Any driving school will be happy to give winter driving lessons even if you
have a valid licence, by the way - and no, no matter what shenanigans you pull
during the lesson, they cannot have your licence revoked.

So, if your spouse isn't too comfortable driving on the icy stuff[0], just get
in touch with a driving school (preferably in winter, though we do have
dedicated tracks with artificial cooling here and there - nothing like
skidding around on half an inch of ice in July...)

[0] Here's me assuming he's !Norwegian, too...

~~~
Broken_Hippo
I have a valid American licence for a while more, but I missed the window for
taking only the written exam. Therefore, I am required to take the classes
nevertheless. I understand that winter driving is part of the standard
lessons, though I considered taking the class during the winter just for the
experience. (Of course, if the winters have as little snow as this past one,
it might not make a difference).

He's Norwegian, and very comfortable. The differences on his caution and mine
is striking. He drives faster than I would, in mountains, with little to no
sliding. Average "snow speeds" are faster here, but I'm sure some of that is
because folks use snow tires instead of the "all weather" tires folks used in
the states. But to be fair, I'm actually luckier than immigrants having no
practical experience with snow and cold and I'm sure most of my previous
caution will transfer over nicely.

~~~
lb1lf
Suggestion: If he's eligible for doing driving practice with you (Basically -
older than 25 and has had his licence for more than five years uninterrupted),
just find a large, open parking lot once some snow and ice is around.

Honestly, simply spending a few hours in an empty parking lot did more for
whatever winter driving skills I may have picked up than any formal driving
lesson did. There's a lot to be said for trying to maneuver the car and
failing miserably to do so - repeatedly - without hitting anything. Most
educational. (And fun! Just don't get too carried away, or the police will
chew on you + spouse for reckless driving if they are bored.)

Proper winter tires helps a lot. As does a gentle right foot and slow, smooth
operation of the steering wheel (And if you really want to go native - studded
tires and 4x4)

(Not that I expect this to be news to you; I'm just making small talk, as it
were. :))

------
silveira
That's why I love the pumps at Costco. They can extend so it doesn't matter if
you have left or right, they can reach it.

~~~
mathw
Almost every pump I've ever used in the UK can reach to the far side of my
car, so I don't even think about which side to go anymore.

Lots of people do though, and many petrol stations have big signs to try to
educate people that the hose will reach if your filler cap is on the other
side of the car.

Of course, if you're driving a big van that's not going to work out (and
lorries have their own pumps and their own problems), but most cars is fine.

~~~
gambiting
I see people doing this in UK and I don't understand - aren't you worried
about scratching the paint? I'd rather reverse in front of the pump so I'm on
the correct side than run the hose over my car if it had to rest on the
bodywork.

~~~
WildGreenLeave
You can just hold the hose and keep it of your car? It isn't too heavy so I
don't see why this isn't an option.

I've done it myself a couple of times in foreign countries where there are
only 1 or 2 pumps, never had to do it in my own country.

------
phkahler
Since electricity isn't flammable, I'd like to see charging ports in the front
center. That means a charger can be on either side, and a home charger might
be located at the front of the garage so it can reach either car in a 2-car
setup.

~~~
thecodemonkey
The Nissan Leaf has a front center charge point, it's pretty convenient.

------
BurningFrog
When I bought my Subaru, the salesperson said the filler is on the right so
you never have stand in traffic to fill up with a reserve tank.

~~~
Declanomous
I'd believe this if the filler door was on the left side in the Japanese
domestic version. As such, I believe it is still on the right side of the car.
The article says Toyota switches the filler side for JDM and the American
market, but Subaru tends to reuse as many parts as possible between markets
due to markedly smaller market share.

~~~
caf
I can confirm my right hand drive Subaru has the filler on the right.

------
Gustomaximus
Not mentioned in article but I assumed car companies looked at what the
majority went with and if any skew would swap to the other side. This would
make filling potential quicker as most station have pumps that operate on both
sides. This way if most cars had left side tanks then it would be advantageous
to have a right side fill as slots are more likely to be open.

~~~
thaumasiotes
> any skew would swap to the other side. This would make filling potential
> quicker as most station have pumps that operate on both sides.

You're not bound by the orientation of the pump. Just point your car the other
way.

~~~
TorKlingberg
At many gas stations, at least in Europe, you can only drive trough in one
direction. There is just no space to turn your car in the other direction
without getting blocked if the station is busy.

~~~
thaumasiotes
This is not the case in California, at least.

------
yan
Something that made filling rentals cars easier: there's a triangle on the
dash that points to which side the cap is on next to the "fuel" symbol on all
the cars I've been in.

~~~
richev
Not just on rentals - I own a Subaru Forester and it has such a handy little
triangle on the dash.

------
zachrose
It's like the tabs vs spaces of car design.

------
tucaz
The article is kinda empty, but the video showing the lady trying to fill her
tank made me laugh a lot. Here's the direct link to it:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vupgBykQnko](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vupgBykQnko)

------
wazoox
Some cars (but not all) have an arrow that show which side the filler is
(Honda, Ford...). Some cars (but not all) have the pump icon with the handle
on the filler side (Volvo, Renault...). Some car have neither and it's pretty
maddening really.

~~~
ygra
But on your own car you'll know once you've had to fill it once. And for other
cars it's probably rather irrelevant as the hoses on filling stations are long
enough to reach over/around the car. Seems like something pointless to be mad
about, actually.

------
js2
Chevy Volt: charging port is on the driver-side front fender; fueling port on
the passenger-side rear fender. I guess I'd prefer the driver side. Seems a
bit easier to pull up to the pump and you don't have to walk around to fuel.

~~~
Buge
Which do you do more frequently though, charging or fueling?

~~~
js2
Charging by far. Over 1,300 miles and it's still on its first tank of gas.
Just a curious decision I thought that GM put them on different sides.

------
timc3
In the operating manual for my BMW it says it’s on the right side to make it
safer when filling up on the side of a road.

------
bryanlarsen
No mention of my now discredited theory:

Traditional luxury brands have the filler on the right because rich people use
full-service gas stations, and traditional budget brands have it on the left
because poor people use self-service gas stations.

~~~
madcaptenor
Then explain why my Ford Focus has the gas tank on the right, while my wife's
Ford Escape has the gas tank on the left.

~~~
bryanlarsen
In my (bad) theory, the Japanese brands started out as budget brands, the
German brands started out as luxury brands and American brands were both.

------
turc1656
"Passenger’s side—and by that I mean the right side here—proponents generally
include most continental European carmakers, and many American ones, while the
biggest driver’s side—the left side—advocates seem to be from Japan."

Not sure this is true. Anecdotal observation of any gas station where I live
has damn near every vehicle with the tank on the left side, regardless of make
or model. All of my vehicles (the Japanese brands as well as the American
brands) have always had the tank on the left/driver's side.

~~~
nradov
Both of my Japanese Subarus have their gas tank fillers on the right side.

------
nottorp
Ideally, you want to have the filler on the side opposed to the majority of
cars in your area. This way you're less likely to wait in line to refill.

~~~
rootusrootus
I'm not sure that would make any difference. At most gas stations I go to,
people jam themselves in whichever way they fit. And at Costco, where queuing
is enforced, people just ignore the filling side and take the shortest queue,
and let the attendant drag the hose over/behind their car as necessary.

~~~
delinka
At the local membership warehouse with enforced queueing, the pumps are
accessible from either side and drivers tend to line up with the pump on the
correct side.

------
stefs
i was told the fillers are on the passenger side because if it were otherwise
it might get hard to get out of the car if you park too close to the pump.

~~~
jclardy
Hmm, that is an interesting thought, but at most gas stations I've been to the
pumps have about three car widths between them, at worst, two and a half. Also
being on the driver side judging distance to the pump right next to you is a
lot easier than doing so from the far side of the car.

I have a Mazda so I've got a driver side gas door. Personally I like it as I
just step out, swipe my card, plug in the line and wait. No walking around the
car necessary.

It seems to me driver side is for gas station convenience, passenger side is
for road-side safety. Both are fairly minor conveniences so it seems
manufacturers just pick a side and stick to it.

~~~
brusch64
I am exactly the opposite. I preferred the placement on German cars.

I try to park pretty close to the pump. With the filler on the same side as
the driver door I have to be careful not to bang the door into the structure
around the pump. That's much easier when it is on the other side.

I don't care at all to walk around the car to pump the petrol.

After driving German cars for some years it was a disadvantage of my new
Japanese car for me.

But I've never filled my car on the side of a road, so this argument didn't
work for me at all.

------
ranger207
It seems in my area at least most fillers are on the driver's side. My car has
its filler on the passenger's side, and I've had to wait out of the way a few
times because every single pump had people filling on the driver's side.

------
Avernar
Simple solution to the danger of filling up on the side of the road: Don't run
out of gas.

How many times have you run out of gas where the reason was not "I'll skip
this station and hit the next one since I still have 1/8th of a tank"?

~~~
brokenmachine
I found out the hard way that even though the dash still says it has 80km to
go until empty, my car will not start if parked on a steep incline. I live on
a hill of course.

Unfortunately I ended up learning this lesson _twice_ because I'm a dummy who
needs to test boundaries. But at least I had the jerry can from the first time
on the second occasion.

------
CalChris
Similar design problems with EVs. The Leaf is front middle which makes a lot
of sense. Volt is right side rear. Not much sense.

What makes no sense is that EVs don't have a standard charge
progress/completion signaling pattern.

------
ar15saveslives
I'll save you a click:

> So the truth is, nobody really has any idea. Once the cheapest, most
> convenient solution, the middle, was made illegal, everything became a
> nightmare of relativism and equally rational justifications. Both sides have
> their advantages and disadvantages, and we’re left, wandering, alone,
> confused.

~~~
nether
I actually enjoyed the research bits, and the partial justifications from
various manufacturers. Their rationale was interesting even if inconsistent.

I'm also against these sort of "click saving" summaries. What's next? Two
star-crossed lovers commit suicide, someone climbs mountain and makes it down
ok ... Sometimes the journey or narrative is interesting even if the outcome
is not extraordinary.

~~~
SilasX
And sometimes -- nay, always -- I want to know whether I'm wasting my time
before I start that journey.

------
skookumchuck
The 1968 VW bus infamously had the filler on the right side, where someone
inside the bus can open the sliding door and bust off the filler nozzle.

~~~
r00fus
This still is possible if you manual override on minivans like the Toyota
sienna. Makes fillups tense if your kids are impatient, strong and use the
wrong door.

