
Why Do Cars Have Fuel Doors on Different Sides? - dangoldin
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/businessdesk/2009/08/why-do-cars-have-fuel-doors-on.html
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jballanc
As interesting as the idea is, I don't think the analogy with Darwinian
evolution quite holds. In order for something to act as a selective _pressure_
it needs to actually exert _pressure_. That is, just simply saying, "Well, if
it weren't that way, then certainly someone would jump in with an alternative"
doesn't work as an explanation because it's never happened. Taking it back to
biology, it's as if someone asked "Why don't we have 3 eyes?" You could come
up with all sorts of reasons why 3 eyes might be worse than 2, but until
someone is actually born with 3 eyes and has trouble surviving because of it,
none of your reasons would be valid selective pressures.

 _Edit_ : As to the original question, I imagine the right answer is something
more along the lines of: where to place the fuel door is considered rather
unimportant, and so left until last. At that point, it goes wherever it will
fit...

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gojomo
I think you're right that such pressure has not been applied via market
selection, in that a carmaker has never been advantaged/disadvantaged by its
choice of fuel door sides.

However, merely realizing that such counterplanning would be possible, should
a bias to one side emerge, does provide pressure in a game-theoretic sense. It
makes any attempt to synchronize a car fleet on one-side self-defeating, even
in the thought-experiment stage. So it works at the level of conscious
strategy, for any design team that even begins to consider a placement
strategy other than 'whatever fits our other choices'.

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jballanc
You're making a big assumption that "putting them all on the same side" has
ever been seriously considered or that, were it considered, the result of
jamming up gas stations was considered. Without empirical evidence to support
these assumptions, Occam's Razor would have me believe that it's as simple as:
nobody's really thought about it (other than, as pointed out above, to balance
the suspension in high-performance vehicles).

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bhousel
When I was in high school, one of our teachers was actually struck and killed
by another car while refueling his own car on the side of the road late at
night. I know it's a remote risk, but I'll still always prefer a car that has
the fuel door on the passenger side just to be safe.

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gojomo
I suspect there's more to this story than this 'just so from a
biz/econ/evolutionary' analysis.

For example, somewhere, sometime, there must have been a regulator or dominant
local supplier that achieved de-facto side-standardization. Did the gas-
station-clumping emerge, or a later-entrant benefit from opposite-placement?

Is there a car census anywhere to tell us if regions have different
distributions, or if it approaches 50/50 everywhere? (That writer who tallied
driver cellphone use could tackle this next.)

Did gas cap placement migrate to the sides -- and higher off the ground --
because the old center-rear gas caps were too low, too dangerous in crashes?

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kselich
where I live, the fuel hose reaches either side of the car, isn't it like that
where you live?

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ars
Sometime, often actually. But not everywhere.

If the hose is too long it dangles on the floor, so they try to avoid that
with springs holding it up, but I assume that costs extra.

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diN0bot
maybe the long fuel lines are not long enough to reach around
superawesomemegabigsuv4x4hummertrucks.

on a different note, i've always wondered why the bike chains are always on
the right side.

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jonsen
Maybe bike chains are always on the right side because the right leg is
typically the strongest and most dexterous, so it will cope better with jammed
trousers.

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rossriley
I'm not sure if this is true across all models but someone who works in the
industry once told me that the dashboard graphic of the fuel tank is situated
the same side of the speedometer as the tank is on the car.

So if you get into a car and the fuel indicator is to the left of the
speedometer, your fuel tank is too. I've only had a couple of cars but it
seems to be the case so far.

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gojomo
Most modern dashboard fuel indicators -- and certainly dashes in rental cars
-- include a little triangle pointing to the side with the gas cap.

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delayclose
I had always thought European cars had the door on the passenger side, while
Japanese and American cars had it on the driver's side. I admit to not having
driven all that many cars, especially American ones, but I don't think I've
ever encountered a counterexample. I'm sure one is forthcoming, though :)

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arithmetic
I've wondered why different cars have fuel doors on different sides, but have
always believed that car companies just never agreed on a standard. I'm glad
that's not the case and that there really is a reason.

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varjag
I don't think it's really the case, more like a writer fascinated with
Darwinism and equilibrium finding them everywhere.

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ankeshk
Why not have the fuel door in the center - either in the front of the car or
at the back?

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ars
Many old cars have the door behind the license plate in the back.

It's not easy to find if you don't know it's there. It's not common anymore.

