Why don?t all cars have their gas caps on the same side?

Whenever I fill up a borrowed or rented car, I'm always puzzled by
this question (usually as I irritably get back into the car to drive
to the other side of the pump).

I've noticed that several manufacturers always seem to favor one side
(Hondas have their gas caps on the driver?s side and Mercedes have
their gas caps on the passenger?s side), while other manufacturers
(Ford, GM) seem to vary sides on a model-by-model basis.

It's so that gas stations can have pumps on both sides of the islands.

Here in the UK, the pumps are usually designed so that they can serve
vehicles to whichever side is required.

Of course, it's more convenient to position your car so that the reach
is as short as possible.

My guess is that it isn't a big issue, so car designers do their own thing.

Some vehicle manufacturers have vested interests in some oil
companies. Each time you have to move your vehicle, you are adding to
the profits of the oil companies, thus increasing the base share price
and profit. A little known, yet profitable exercise by further
confusing the purchaser of a vehicle.

Vehicles with a single exhaust pipe will have the gas cap on the
opposite side of the car as where the tailpipe exits. This applies to
cars made from about the late 70's onward, at least in the US.

The reason for this is somewhat obvious-- safety.

It seems you are not the only one wondering this?
http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/18864

When I bought a Subaru, I was told that the gas cap was on the
passenger side so that when you are filling your tank when stranded on
the side of the road, you will be on the side of the car away from
traffic.

It is more convienent to have it on the driver's side.  Then you don't
have to walk those loooooooong steps around to the passenger side to
fill up!

philnj-ga

I assume that the cap automatically moves over when the Subaru is
driven in a country where they drive on the opposite side of the road?

QUOTE
When I bought a Subaru, I was told that the gas cap was on the
passenger side so that when you are filling your tank when stranded on
the side of the road, you will be on the side of the car away from
traffic.
UNQUOTE

Very clever!

All late model cars that I've owned or driven have an arrow and some
verbage such as "FILL" near the fuel level indicator, indicating which
side the the gas cap is on. For instance:

FILL ->

I've only owned cars that were traditionally considered "Made in the
USA", (IE, Ford and Chevy, but not Honda or Toyota) so I don't know if
this true of all manufacturers.

Straight from the used car salesperson... my previous car with dual
exhaust had the gas cap on the passenger side, not the driver side,
because "that way you don't bang your door when opening it".

Car salesmen are very adaptable and totally untrustworthy.

A few months ago, my Toyota required a new radiator so I took it in to
my friendly mechanic who did the necessary.

As a matter of interest I then phoned a few official Toyota dealers
and the service men spun me a variety of tales as to what could or
could not be done.

One said that you can't get rads repaired (Untrue) and another said
that you could but it would take 3 days (Untrue) and that the repaired
ones were actually better than the new ones!

Who to believe?

I prefer my friendly mechanic who got a replacement rad for me before
I took the car in.

I have had 2 cars where the petrol/gas cap was at the rear of the car.

1979 Ford Escort (behind the rear number plate)
1971 Holden Torana LC (original petrol caps were often stolen)

Made it so much easier at petrol stations. Didn't matter which side of
the petrol bowser/pump I went on.

Cheers :)

If you have a diesel car you wouldn't have to ponder which side to put
the gasoline.

Well it makes sense to me

Kemlo

because the designers don't think about reality and the engineers are
too busy trying to figure out how to make the design work.

The recent addition of < or > to the fuel tank symbol is hilarious
because sometimes "they" put it on the wrong side of the symbol (but
pointing in tht eright direction) leading my wife to think it's on the
wrong side. That's Mercedes nowadays.

My Wrangler just lights up and you look in the rear view mirrors and
figure out which side.

The "car guys" on the US' National Public Radio network addressed this
question today, September 16.  I wasn't paying too much attention, but
they said, from what I can now recall:

    Cars are not symmetric.   So things like mufflers are on one side or another,
        and the piping for that and other things like it can interfere with the
        piping for the gas filler.
 
    The only important consideration (in their view) was putting it on the side
        opposite to the driver so that, if you run out of gas on a highway and
        are filling the tank from a can, you're on the side away from traffic.

I true funny story that a co-worker/friend confided in me.
She pulled into a full-service gas station (remember them) and was
told to go to the other side because the hose wouldn't reach.
So she did as told. Pulled a U-turn to the other side.
Guess what? The gas cap was STILL on the wrong side.

I still give her a hard time about that one!

P.S. Yes, she was a blonde.

It depends upon the designer's assumptions as well as cost of change
in design of different automobile manufacturer's.

A well-designed car would have the gas cap on the opposite side from
the driver for the simple and obvious reason that it's easier for the
driver to get out when his door isn't right up against the pump.
However, when a right-drive model is brought to the US, they have to
change the side the driver sits on, but they are not going to bother
moving the gas cap accordingly (too much expense to duplicate the
parts). Thus, many import cars end up with the gas cap on the driver's
side. To further confuse things, some domestic cars are trying to
imitate imports and thus have the gas cap similarly located.Many auto
manufacturers are moving towards putting the fuel filler on the rear
opposite the driver's side for the reason that if you run out of gas,
or if the car breaks down and you need to fill it on the side of the
road, it will be the side opposite of where traffic is passing.

On the contrary a car will have the gas cap on the same side as the
driver, for the simple reason that its that much closer . Driver can
get out of the car to open it. Also, it is indeed true that the gas
cap tends to be on the opposite side of the car from the exhaust pipes
so that there is less chance of the combustible fuel coming into
contact with the hot-as-hell exhaust gasses and pipes, as in the case
that fuel is spilled from nozzle, lands on the ground, and splashes
onto the pipes.

Also lots of rear-engined super-cars have the fuel filler on the front
just in front of the windsheild (some Porsches have one on each side,
one for fuel and one for oil).In '68 Karmann Ghia had the cap on the
passenger side right up near the mirror, pretty close to where the
glove box is. The actual tank was in the trunk (which in Ghias and
Bugs is in the front not the back...) so it was the closest place to
keep the cap.