Good summary of the gas cap side options and car company decisions.
It seems like I heard somewhere, likely NPR’s Car Talk when that was on the air, that European (or maybe just German) cars tend to put the filler on the passenger’s side. The reason, if I remember correctly, is that if run out of gas and you’re standing on the side of the road filling the tank from a gas can, you’ll be standing on the side away from traffic.
Every car I’ve ever owned, both American and Japanese makes, have had it on the driver’s side. A few rental cars I’ve driven have had it on the other side. As I recall they were a Mazda 3 and a VW Jetta.
2002 Pontiac Trans Am
My current car fills on the drivers side. My previous car filled from the passenger side.
I used to drive a Jaguar that had two tanks - one on each side.
I wonder why they elected not to indicate it. I used to regularly check in my side view mirrors. A lot of the hoses reach both sides, anyway, which is helpful if I’m in a hurry and don’t want to wait for a pump on the convenient side.
I had to do this once. It would have been easier and less scary if the car involved had had its gas tank on the passenger side.
Other than that, I’m not sure it matters to me which side the gas tank is on. Although, depending on how the pumps at the gas station are set up, there may be an advantage to not having all the cars the same way.
I technically shouldn’t have answered the poll, since while my gas cap is on the drivers’ side of the car, I don’t use it like an ordinary person. I use it like an awesome person, because that’s the only way I’m capable of doing things.
It’s a curse.
It’s a regional thing in the sense that in RHD countries the filler cap is likely to be on the passenger side. Because more cars are sold in LHD, and manufacturers prefer to put the cap on the driver’s side, the cap will typically be on the left.
One of the reasons I loved my Subaru! Now we have two Hyunais, both feeding from the driver’s side.
You people must be young. When I was a kid a lot of cars filled from the centre of the back end, right above the bumper.
My Cadillac is on the driver’s side. My old Beetle is on the passenger’s side, and towards the front since the tank is in front of you. My Kit Car is a Beetle underneath but the tank was moved to the rear, with the filler still on the passenger’s side. Both pickup trucks are on the driver’s side. Two motorcycles are on the top center of the tank and one motorcycle is on the right side of the tank, though it’s a motorcycle so you could still easily reach it from the left side if you want.
My Beetle is a 74 so you don’t need to open the hood (trunk? whatever you want to call the one in the front) to fill the gas tank. That change happened some time in the late 60s, so FastDan1’s Beetle was mid 1960s or earlier.
My first car was a 78 Olds Delta 88 with the filler behind the license plate. That would probably confuse most millennials, but at least it wasn’t hidden behind the tail light like some cars in the 50s.
The logic of LHD left side door is so you can more easily position the car at optimum distance from pump. OTOH, right hand door on a LHD/drive-on-right country means you’re not standing in the road when pulled over using a gas can. If you look at position by country of origin of manufacturer, it seems like the second logic is more common at least some places, or was. Since brands from drive-on-right Continental Europe are usually right side fuel door, and most Japanese brands are left side fuel door (though Subaru is right, Nissan has models with either, etc). Although the US brands don’t particularly corroborate that, being more mixed by brand and model but left side door more common. Also South Korea is drive-on-right, but Hyundai and Kia are door on left.
My new car (2017 US model) is on the passenger side. I’m pissed about it.
My 1979 AMC Hornet had that too. Some gas station attendants couldn’t find it.
Currently, I have two electric vehicles, both have charge ports on the driver’s side. One forward, one near the rear.
Can’t find the old post because Google brings up the old board and the new search engine makes the old search engine look good (god help us). Anyway, in the late 1980s I purchased an old 1973 Toyota Corolla because I was going to be a commuter student in grad school and had to have one. On day two drove into the service station. Walked around the left side of car – ?!? Walked around the right side of the car - ?!@??? Walked to the back, tugged on the license plate (cuz that’s where it had been on my old Pontiac). Nope.
Check this photo. See that tiny little piece of chrome way the fuck up at window level? No, not on this side, but on the driver’s side. There was a filler spout hiding behind that damn thing.
In the early '70s, my mom had a Mercury Capri. The fuel fill door was in a similar spot, but on the passenger side (as shown in the picture below). At least Ford didn’t hide it behind a chrome bit.
Two vehicles, both have the gas cap on the driver’s side. 99 Ford and a 02 Toyota.