# Why isn't gas cap location standardized? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 15, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294 "2010-08-15T00:55:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/21 "2010-08-15T08:07:14Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Because it hasn’t been considered an important enough issue to legislate a mandatory side. And as long as nobody is forcing it through legislation, the thousands of auto-makers aren’t all going to independently decide to do it the same way. This is a ridiculous argument. The vast majority of technical standards are adopted without legislation. They arise either naturally, or else through the cooperation of industry practitioners. For example, this Internet thing you’re currently using works only because the people who helped design and operate it agree on thousands of standards documents (IETF RFCs; W3C Recommendations; IEEE, ISO, ANSI, ITU, and ECMA standards; etc.) authored by individual IT specialists, companies, or committees thereof. ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/22 "2010-08-15T08:40:58Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > > [@Rigamarole](#): > > > > Because it hasn’t been considered an important enough issue to legislate a mandatory side. And as long as nobody is forcing it through legislation, the thousands of auto-makers aren’t all going to independently decide to do it the same way. > > This is a ridiculous argument. The vast majority of technical standards are adopted without legislation. They arise either naturally, or else through the cooperation of industry practitioners. For example, this Internet thing you’re currently using works only because the people who helped design and operate it agree on thousands of standards documents (IETF RFCs; W3C Recommendations; IEEE, ISO, ANSI, ITU, and ECMA standards; etc.) authored by individual IT specialists, companies, or committees thereof. Not exactly the same thing, is it? It’s a design element with no real need to conform to a standard. In contrast, the actual gas tank opening **is** standardized, as it needs to conform to the physical measurements of the pump nozzles. Think of it like this… while a website has to conform to the basic internet standards just to be accessible… the content, and the design doesn’t. What OP is asking is equal to asking “Why don’t all websites look the same? If they did, they’d be easier to navigate… and there wouldn’t be any browse compatibility issues.” ---
**Author:** ![qpw3141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/6bbea6/32.png) [@qpw3141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qpw3141)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/23 "2010-08-15T08:54:02Z")
All the pumps I’ve used in the UK have had hoses long enough to reach either side of the car. Until I read this thread I’d never even considered having to get one particular side of the car along side the pump. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/24 "2010-08-15T12:53:53Z")
> [@chicken\_wire](#): > > I recall hearing that the pump nozzle on the little picture of a pump, next to the fuel gauge, was supposed to be on the same side as the filler cap, so that you could get in any car and know which side you needed to have the pump on to fill up. If that’s not true, it should be. I’m not sure whether your pump-handle factoid is true, but many cars do have a small triangle next to the picture of the pump which points to the side of the car that has the gas cap. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/25 "2010-08-15T13:09:26Z")
> [@chicken\_wire](#): > > I recall hearing that the pump nozzle on the little picture of a pump, next to the fuel gauge, was supposed to be on the same side as the filler cap, so that you could get in any car and know which side you needed to have the pump on to fill up. If that’s not true, it should be. Maybe it should be, but it’s not true. It is a common enough belief that it has a snopes page though. > **[Gas Pump Icon and Fuel Doors](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/fuel-icon-foolery/)** > > Does an automobile's dashboard fuel level icon indicate which side the vehicle's gas cap is on? ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/26 "2010-08-15T13:45:05Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > > [@spark240](#): > > > > How does it work, then, given that the gas caps _aren’t_ uniform? Is entering traffic divided by which side of the pump they want to pull up to? Does nobody try to turn around when there are four cars lined up on one side and nobody on the other? > > As **needscoffee** said, and to elaborate: At Costco the lines at the gas pumps are often so long that you get into whatever line is a little shorter than the others, regardless of whatever side of the pump it’s on. If it ends up on the “wrong” side of your car you just pull the hose over your car. It’s long enough. Costco has fine-tuned the gas-getting experience to near perfection. For this reason, Costco is the only place I buy gas. That, and the fact that their prices are the lowest around (sometimes, by far). mmm ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/27 "2010-08-15T13:46:26Z")
I can fill my personal Expedition from either side. Hoses are still long enough to do so! (And my loaner extra-long Expedition has no problem, either.) All of my company’s cars have an icon on the fuel gauge to indicate what side to fill from. It’s an arrow, not a fuel pump as described above. My Continental has dual exhaust, so my fuel filler is on the same side as the exhaust pipe. My company’s design guidelines indicate to keep the fuel filler on the same side as it already is. Obviously that only goes for refreshes. I can’t seem to find a guideline for new models. Anecdotally, I seem to think that my Continental is the only product (long since discontinued, I might add) that has the filler neck on the passenger side. Everything else I’ve ever driven has it on the driver side. Additionally, thinking of the rental cars I’ve recently had (including a Chrysler and a Hyundai), they’re all on the driver’s side too (I remember from filling up at the same pump at the same gas station every time I have to turn them in). ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/28 "2010-08-15T13:50:44Z")
> [@qazwart](#): > > Germans, the theory goes, use to drive on the left, but changed after World War II. That is not true. Germany has always had right-hand traffic. ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/29 "2010-08-15T14:12:46Z")
> [@Fish\_Cheer](#): > > > [@qazwart](#): > > > > Germans, the theory goes, use to drive on the left, but changed after World War II. > > That is not true. Germany has always had right-hand traffic. I know some European countries changed sides from left to right, but you’re right that Germany wasn’t one of them according to Wikipedia. Then, maybe it has to do with filling cars up from a gas can on the side of the road if you run out of gas. This way, you’re out of the stream of traffic while holding a can of very flammable gasoline. Then, reading through various forums all over the Intertubes I’ve run across this idea: In Europe, the exhaust pipe is on the side away from the curb. That way, it doesn’t spew exhaust on bicyclists and pedestrians on the side of the road. Since the exhaust pipe is on the side away from the curb, the gas cap is on the curb side. And this… In Japan, gas pumps are located in many places on the side of the road. Since the Japanese drive on the left side, the gas cap is on the left side of the car. When cars are imported to America, the gas cap remains on the left although the driver sits on the left and drives on the right It looks like they put the gas cap on any side they choose, and we, being creatures who try to find patterns in everything, try to figure out the logic of this where there is no logic. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/30 "2010-08-15T14:48:30Z")
> [@](#): > > It looks like they put the gas cap on any side they choose, and we, being creatures who try to find patterns in everything, try to figure out the logic of this where there is no logic. I think that’s basically it. I did find the middle placement some cars used to have convenient, though. I imagine they did away with it because of safety issues (rear end collisions?). You didn’t have to pull up to a particular side of the pump or wrestle the hose around the car, you just had to pull through far enough - occasionally you couldn’t do that because of the guy at the other pump blocking you. It did also mean that the filler cap was generally too low to the ground, and it won’t work for hatchbacks, wagons and SUVs. ETA: Although, some early hatchbacks such as the AMC Gremlin had a hatch which opened with a high enough lip to accommodate a center gas cap. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/31 "2010-08-15T14:51:41Z")
[quote=“qazwart, post:14, topic:550294”] > [@taffygirl](#): > > The problem with the theory is that it doesn’t explain Japanese cars. Japanese drive on the left, but their gas cap (at least in the U.S.) is on the left side. My Nissan Frontier has the cap on the right, and I’m in the US. ---
**Author:** ![chicken\_wire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@chicken\_wire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicken_wire)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/32 "2010-08-15T15:04:20Z")
> [@qazwart](#): > > And this… > > In Japan, gas pumps are located in many places on the side of the road. Since the Japanese drive on the left side, the gas cap is on the left side of the car. When cars are imported to America, the gas cap remains on the left although the driver sits on the left and drives on the right > > It looks like they put the gas cap on any side they choose, and we, being creatures who try to find patterns in everything, try to figure out the logic of this where there is no logic. Just looking at several Japanese car maker’s (Australian) sites, Toyota and Honda have the fuel filler on the left, Subaru, Nissan, and Mazda are on the right. The local GM subsidiary puts 'em on the right, Ford Australia on the left. Perhaps regulation of filler side really is a waste of time. The car makers have split fairly evenly on their own. Just keep the pumps 50/50 either side, and if one of the car companies perceives the situation developing where one side is more prevalent than the other, they might grasp a marketing advantage by going the other way. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/33 "2010-08-15T16:17:04Z")
One solution manufacturers could adopt is to simply equip the car with two filler caps, one on each side. The only cars I can think of that have such an arrangement also have two fuel tanks. It should be possible to simply put two filler necks on one tank. Surely it wouldn’t add THAT much cost. I have very occasionally also seen a gas station design that rectifies the problem. Rather than unreeling from the pump, the hose is on a swiveling overhead boom that can be swung out over the car to fill from the opposite side without wrestling the hose. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/34 "2010-08-15T16:28:54Z")
I liked where the filler was on my '66 VW. The late '50s were the pinnacle of hidden gas caps. They were hidden under tail fin chrome, tail lights, and other places. Cars are downright lacking in such details today. ---
**Author:** ![taffygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5a626/32.png) [@taffygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taffygirl)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/35 "2010-08-15T17:23:33Z")
[quote=“chicken\_wire, post:13, topic:550294”] > [@spark240](#): > > How anxious are people who fret about which side the filler cap is on their car though? Not “anxious,” chicken wire, just occasionally frustrated. When I pull into a gas station and all the cars at the islands or waiting in lines to pump gas are facing me, it causes some awkward maneuvering and long waits. There I am, sitting there politely while more cars enter and get in the “filling from the driver’s side” line. When the last car that was in line has filled up and is leaving, I pull into the spot from the opposite direction–hopefully before the next driver in line pulls up; those newbies often don’t realize I’ve been waiting since before they got there. It’s a happy day when there are no cars at the island, and I can be Robinson Crusoe. Kudos to the gas stations with the “overhead” swiveling hoses. That sounds like the answer to me. Doesn’t sound like there are many of 'em, though. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/36 "2010-08-15T18:02:07Z")
> [@](#): > > So, if you want to give the driver the ability to open the gas cap from inside the car (and thus be able to unlock the gas cap without a key), you put the gas cap on the driver’s side. Then you design the exhaust to go to the other side. Don’t most cars have neither a lever nor a lock? To open the gas cap door, you just pull on the little finger-tab, then unscrew the cap underneath. I guess this does leave open the possibility of thieves with siphons, but is that common enough to actually worry about? ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/37 "2010-08-15T18:15:55Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Costco has fine-tuned the gas-getting experience to near perfection. So perfect that, apparently, there is always a line. Personally, I almost never _wait_ for gasoline. If there’s not a pump available immediately, I drive on and stop elsewhere. However, if the way to get next to a pump _now_ is to back up to it, that’s what I do. Plenty of others do the same. I do sometimes see people waiting for one side of the pump while the other is open, and my conclusion is that these people haven’t mastered their vehicles yet. Where I am, every gas station has at least two entrances. Those on corners with side streets usually have three. People enter and exit in all directions. Traffic is slow, though, and when facing a vehicle moving in the opposite direction, everybody goes to the right. I’ve never considered such an arrangement particularly hazardous for the drivers involved. I _would_ ideally like to see the multiple entrances eliminated, but only for the sake of pedestrians who must cross the multiple curb cuts. Walkers are the ones endangered by having too many points of motor traffic crossing pedestrian paths–but that issue is hardly limited to gas stations. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/38 "2010-08-15T18:58:43Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > > > Costco has fine-tuned the gas-getting experience to near perfection. > > So perfect that, apparently, there is always a line. There’s a line because it’s cheaper than anywhere else. Often, much cheaper. So whether it’s worth the wait depends on how much you want to save money. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/39 "2010-08-15T19:02:53Z")
> [@Fish\_Cheer](#): > > > [@qazwart](#): > > > > Germans, the theory goes, use to drive on the left, but changed after World War II. > > That is not true. Germany has always had right-hand traffic. Quite a few countries in Europe switched from left-hand traffic to right-hand traffic between the 1920s and the 1960s. But not Germany. The last one was Sweden, which switched in 1967. See [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-_and_left-hand_traffic#Changing_to_right-hand_traffic). ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294/40 "2010-08-15T19:16:14Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > > [@spark240](#): > > > > So perfect that, apparently, there is always a line. > > There’s a line because it’s cheaper than anywhere else. Often, much cheaper. > > So whether it’s worth the wait depends on how much you want to save money. I found that it wasn’t, once I factored in the fact that Costco won’t take my credit card with a cash-back discount for gas purchases. It came out about the same, and not worth it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-gas-cap-location-standardized/550294.md?page=3)