Fuel inlet location indication..

I did not know this.

Can someone with a modern car tell me if or how this issue has been tackled?
The article makes a relevant point. It does happen, and people feel stupid and embarrassed as a result. but this sentence really confuses me:
“…folks forget that the automakers have added a helpful features…”
I’m not criticising the writing per-se, but rather questioning the efficiency of the features/indication. How helpful are they if people are able to forget?
My friend the engineer said people should read the fucking manual, but we all know that’s not how it works. I’m sure there would be easier way to implement this into modern cars. I drive an old Polo so I wouldn’t know.

The little triangle has been around for quite a while, and when you travel and rent cars frequently it is a life saver.

If you “Forget” then you can be the guy who pulls up backwards at a pump and has to switch.

Most people simply don’t realize it’s there or that it’s what it’s indicating. And short of writing “FILLER CAP THIS SIDE —>” I’m not sure how obvious it needs to be.

Is it really that big of a problem?

My car has it on the passenger side, my wife’s on the driver’s… if I mess it up I move the car… problem solved. The little triangle thing helps when in a rental, but usually I just note where the fuel filler is when I rent the car.

It’s probably not a very important issue in the big scheme of things. I, as many friends of mine, were just very surprised of how no one had noticed. We discussed this intensely over a bigger dinner last night. The whole thing is now referred to as #fillercapgate. Good times.

It obviously IS a problem or the arrow/triangle indicator wouldn’t have been added.

The wife’s Prius has it and even though we’ve had that car for almost 10 years, I still give it a quick glance as I had into a gas station. Neither of my BMWs has it (I bet the Germans would prefer ALL cars have their fuel filler spouts on the rear, passenger quarter panel).

The SMART solution here would be for our soon-to-be connected cars to understand from their location-based GPS mapping that we are pulling into a gas station and to blink the little triangle until the ignition is turned off (or better yet, blink the triangle and blink the entire fuel level indicator alternately). The ‘pro’ is obvious, the only ‘con’ would be mis-indication to the user (if he/she was pulling in just to get a snack or if the gas station had converted to a dry cleaners since the last Google Earth mapping updates, etc) but any mis-indication would be minimal in the scheme of things.

If I could pick fixing this or the fact that USBs only fit in one way I’d pick USBs. 50% chance of doing it right and I get it wrong 100% of the time.

Ironically my wife had a mini and even though it is German made the fuel filler is on the driver’s side.

I have to agree with the Germans though, passenger side is the way to go. That way you don’t ding your door into the fuel pump.

As a former frequent renter, the arrow is easy and straightforward once you know about it. The fact that it’s standard practice is great- not everything is adopted as widely.

As an aside, my (German) Mercedes/Dodge/Freightliner Sprinter has the fuel filler door underlaps (?) the driver’s door. It’s an clean solution saves a latching system and makes fuel theft that much more difficult when the vehicle is closed. It just strikes me as a great solution:

USB c new standard goes in both ways. Better solution is gas filler on the back like my 71 Benz. That way doesn’t really matter what side you pull up on (though it is on passenger side of license plate, not far off Center). Speaking of that, never really got old Porsche filler locations near the hood. Think that would get a lot of spillage on the paint. I Bunch of old cars had them behind the license plate which flipped up which I think is pretty good at hiding an ugly door you only need once a month or so.

R

Agreed. Clever solution and completely eliminates the forgetting or the annoyance when all your side of the gas pumps are taken and you have to maneuver or turn the car around.

Too bad that modern cars have much larger opening trunks and the only place left for the filler would be right on the rear bumper…

First, I have never known this feature before reading this thread. You learn something new everyday. I guess I did it the old fashion way, I look for a gas cap before entering the car. If I forget, I move the car. While I am sure I have done that, I don’t recall needing to do that in the recent past.

Second, has your friend read the entire 400-page car manual that reads like a manual? Any answer other than no is a fucking lie.

Having the fuel filler integrated into the lap of the door would be great, but I think regulations call for the filler to be away from the passenger compartment in case of fire (except on commercial vehicles, which the Sprinter falls into).

Having the filler on the driver’s side makes sense from a safety standpoint, as you’d always be close to where you could jump back into the car in the case of a zombie on the loose. (Maybe the Brits had that in mind and BMW continues the tradition on today’s Mini’s?)

Having the filler at the back was frowned upon after rear end collisions created fires and tank explosions…so for crash considerations the rear quarter panels were deemed the safest locations.

I’ve found the hose to be long enough to reach the opposite side.

Hm on that note, why don’t companies create electric cars that can be charged from underneath. The car drives itself over the hotspot, a pole built into the ground moves up to connect to the car and at the same time locking the car. The car drives away and the pole hides itself.
Electric vehicle chargers are popping up everywhere around here, not just in parking spaces but even in the middle of nicely maintained green front yards, and they drastically need better aesthetics.

Richard: The 911 tank is under the front hood. Hence, the fuel filler location. I had to pop the hood on my 914 and pre-1967 (I think) Beetles were similar. That’s my favorite solution!

I have two German cars. The fuel filler is on the passenger side on both. I know exactly where they are – this has been the case on the various German cars I’ve owned for the past 40 year. I still sometimes get it wrong. I feel a bit stupid having to correct the situation but since I don’t know the other customers getting gas – I don’t care. It would help on rentals if the arrow was a bit larger (this is a pet peev of mine on most consumer UI graphics and packaging - a different discussion though)

Both GM and Toyota now offer wireless charging for their EVs - it’s a simple pad that sits on the floor (about the size of a baseball home-plate), you drive into your garage and it’s right where it needs to be and automatically begins the recharge process.