if you can’t remember the location of your fuel door, just glance down at your fuel gauge on the dashboard – you will see a little arrow pointing to the side of the car with the fuel door. Problem solved.

Filling up, left side or right side?

The Mirror Opinion Apr - 22 - 2016 , 15:54

Have you ever arrived at the filling station only to discover that you can’t remember if your fuel tank is filled from the left side of your car or the right side?

This can go from mildly annoying to pretty aggravating when the station is congested and drivers are trying to figure out how to park and be served. Why aren’t all cars filled from the same side anyway?

There are no regulatory or engineering rules to govern this vehicle design decision, and with no legal or marketing motivation, and few ownership enjoyment implications, automotive engineers are free to place fuel doors on whichever side offers the easiest packaging.

In case you were wondering as well, there’s not enough room – or demand appetite – for dual fuel doors.

Generally, North Americans prefer left-mounted fuel doors, according to a Ford study, which suggests that a driver’s-side fuel door makes it easier for drivers to gauge parking distance next to the fuel pump.

For similar reasons, Japan, India, the UK, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand and countries in southern Africa drive on the left side of the road and sit on the right side of the car, and it appears they prefer right-mounted fuel doors. European manufacturers also favour right-side fuel doors in general.

Nissan is one of the few automakers which produces some vehicles with left fuel doors and some with right doors.

In countries where vehicles drive on the right side of the road, the safest side for the fuel cap to be is on the passenger side.

This is especially evident in situations where motorists run out of fuel and need to pull onto the pavement.

In this situation, refilling the tank on the driver’s side, close to traffic, can be dangerous.

There have been cases of tow truck operators being killed or badly injured, even with their vehicle’s emergency lights flashing, when filling fuel tanks on the driver’s side.

For safety reasons, automotive design engineers tend to locate the fuel tanks, pipes and filler ports on the opposite side from the car’s exhaust system, except in the case of vehicles with dual exhausts.

There was a time when these fuel caps were hidden behind the rear licence-plate, but fuel tanks were moved further ahead over concerns that the rear location could be dangerous in rear-end collisions.

According to design engineers, the placement of the fuel door is mainly a factor of fuel tank design, location and under-body packaging. With all of the structure and components located underneath the vehicle, they would quickly encounter restrictions if they tried to route the filler tube to the same side on every single vehicle.

Additionally, when designing the layout, engineers make it a priority that the fuel filler be located as close as possible to the fuel tank itself.

If a speaker sub-woofer for example must be placed on the left side, engineers put the fuel door on the opposite (right) side.

The body type or style of the vehicle determines the amount and configuration of the space available for passenger use in the cabin, as well as the various systems that are needed with a vehicle – including the fuel system.

Most drivers know which side of their regular car has the fuel cap, until they rent a car or drive someone else’s car.

One fun fact to keep in mind – if you can’t remember the location of your fuel door, just glance down at your fuel gauge on the dashboard – you will see a little arrow pointing to the side of the car with the fuel door. Problem solved.

No more confusion, or second-guessing, which side of the fuel pump to park at next time.

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