If they were standardized on the right, then it would be more reasonable to implement the excellent gas-pumps-on-the-curb practice that seems to work well in Europe.
Ah, no. Look at the gas gauge. There is an arrow on the left or right side within the gauge pointing which side the gas cap is located.
Bolding added to highlight an incorrect statement.
Ford was acquitted of criminal charges; there were several lawsuits that resulted in findings of product liability with attendant damages. One of them is a well known Remedies case from Law School (Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Co.).
Gerry Spence, who represented some of the victims, stated in one of his books that Ford didn’t have to pay out.
If you really want to mess with people’s heads, drive a Trabant. :eek:
From Wikipedia, admittedly not the best of sources…
The most famous Ford Pinto product liability case resulted in a judicial opinion that is a staple of remedies courses in American law schools. In 1981 in Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Co.,[8] the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District reviewed Ford’s conduct, and upheld compensatory damages of $2.5 million ($5.92 million today) and punitive damages of $3.5 million ($8.29 million today) against Ford. It also upheld the judge’s reduction of the punitive damages from the jury’s original verdict of $125 million ($296 million today). Of the two plaintiffs, one was killed in the collision that caused her Pinto to explode, and her passenger, 13-year old Richard Grimshaw, was badly burned and scarred for life.
…a Trabant limo.
Great picture, but the thread’s about the location of fuel caps (look at my picture again) 
As a gas jockey back in college - late 60s - it was a challenge to find some of the filler caps. The swing out tail light was on a number of models if my fading memory serves me. It used to piss off the drivers when I found it right away. Another good one was the old VW bugs that had the filler in the trunk (under the hood).
Another bit of nostalgia; we were in a gas war locally for a good while and regular was typically $0.25 per gallon and premium at $0.27. This was at Central Markets (Golub) in the Albany, NY area.
One time In Oklahoma when I was 16, I bought Ethyl for 13¢ during a price war. 
the good old days… I ran all week on less than $5. (And I ran a lot.)
The operative word, of course, being “drive”, which you’d do in 15-minute increments between repairs.
My father had a leg badly broken while filling a car of his that had the filler behind the license plate; some guy pulled up behind him and his brakes picked that very moment to fail.
I used to love the 1956 Chevrolet; their filler cap was under the left rear tail lamp, secured with a latch to keep the tail light in position. If the latch was bent or really gunked up, it was hell to get the thing open. It’s strange but I don’t remember the 57 Chevy having that feature. Some of the cars back then presented a real challenge in locating the filler cap.
And the VW bugs I used to work on had the gas tank situated directly in front of the passenger compartment—sort of the ultimate in safety since a front end collision could easily park the gas tank in the front seat.
Early on, gas pumps were at the curb and all cars had their filler on the right. Even by 1950 there were still a few like that, but they were going fast. In 1968, when I moved to Montreal, there was one curbside pump a couple blocks from where I lived. But it was basically a one-man repair shop and the owner must have felt the interruptions were too annoying and it soon disappeared.
Given the number of times I drive up and find the pumps all occupied on their right side and empty on the left, I would imagine that a large majority have left hand fillers and therefore I would prefer to have it on the right.
Well hell. I shall shut up now. :smack:
(But so far it has always worked for me :D)
Again, not always.
Gas cap location is a collaboration of stylists and designers. Once the general car concept is approved the designers try and find the easiest and cheapest way to bring it to market. Convenience and standardization are not factors. You have a lot of stuff to squeeze into a given area.
Long ago, I used to drive a '64 International Scout. It had a filler cap on each side. Unfortunately, each filled a separate tank. There was a valve underneath the seat to switch tanks, and a switch under the gas gauge to change the tank it was measuring. There’s an obvious flaw with that system. If some modern day manufacturer wanted to go to the extra expense, though, I imagine they could probably put two filler necks on the tank, one on each side. Given the other crap they stick on cars, that might actually be a practical addition, and it would be nice to be able to pull up to either side of the gas pump, rather than participating in demented gas station minuets.
I drove cars with the cap under the plate, too. That works, but it won’t pass safety standards these days, and you had to bend over to fill the tank. It also put the filler neck too low wrt to the gas tank. I had a '65 Pontiac that would dribble gas when you parked pointing uphill with a full tank. Of course, I owned it in an era when I didn’t like to gas it up unless I could get 3 gallons for my dollar …
Occasionally, you see stations advertising “long hoses, pull up on either side”. Ain’t that convenient to wrestle the damned spring-loaded hose around your car, though. I’ve seen a few stations that have the hose hanging from an overhead boom that you can pivot to reach either side of the car. I wish there were more of those. I suppose it hasn’t caught on because it costs too much.
For the record, it should be pointed out that the filler line on the Pinto was located on the left side, not the rear.
I owned a '75 Pinto, and lemme tell ya, I rather enjoyed the fact that no one would tailgate me!
The fuel cap used to be in the back under the rear license plate. I remember when they started to make cars with the cap on the side. At that time, I asked my parents why some are on different sides, and here’s what they told me (no idea whether it’s factual). Their explanation was that car companies intentionally made some on different sides because that way, when cars drive into a gas station, they aren’t all trying to line up in the same line at the gas pump, i.e. assuming there is one entrance to the gas station, there is more choice for the drivers as to which pump to use.
I don’t think auto makers think about that much. It is the whim of the design team. IMO. Bawahahaha