which side is the filler cap?

[Bridge944]

WHO KNEW THIS???
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I have been driving for over 30years and never knew this, Have you ever rented or borrowed a car and when arriving at the petrol station wondered...mmm, which side is the petrol filler cap?

[FONT=comic sans ms"]If you look at your petrol gauge, you will see a small icon of a petrol pump?
[FONT=comic sans ms"]The handle of the petrol pump will extend out on either the left or right side of the petrol pump?
[FONT=comic sans ms"]If your tank is on the left, the handle will be on the left? If your tank is on the right, the handle will be on the right (see photo). It is that simple!

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[Bonzo]

Ha ha sounds good!! I will be looking out for this in customers' cars from now on!!!!

 

[nick3814]

A lot of newer cars have a small arrow at one side of the petrol pump symbol indicating which side the filler is on, fords are like that, so is my 2002 Saab.

I also read somewhere that its to do with the country of origin, left hand drive/right han drive that determines which side its on, not so sure!!

 

[tscaptain]

I know a lot have a little pointer on the gauge showing the side of the filler but didn't know about the handle on the pump!

 

[ashley]

This is fantastic, just going down to check our fleet,

What a sad G**

 

[ashley]

Inconclusive

996 handle on right side filler on right - correct
944 as above
3 series - as above
Mini - handle on right filler on nearside - wrong[]

 

[homesea]

Also Honda Civic, handle on right filler on left.[8|]

 

[xenon]

I think the handle orientation is a red herring. As has been said, most cars have a little arrow nowadays.

 

[Black_JPN]

Yep, urban myth. As soon as I heard this I checked various cars at my disposal. For some it was true, others it was not. Even for the same manufacturer differences remained.

 

[zcacogp]

Traditionally the filler cap was deisgned to be on the near side of the car in the country in which it was manufactured, so that if you stopped by the road to buy some petrol you weren't standing in the road to fill it.

Very very few manufacturers re-engineered the filler neck of cars made for export markets to change the side as it was too expensive, so 'foreign' cars usually have the filler cap on the 'wrong' side.

Two notable exceptions:

1. Lexus. The japanese copied Maerc so slavishly when designing the original Lexus that they even put the filler cap on the RHS - the 'wrong' side for the country of manufacture.
2. Commercial vehicles (transits etc) - the filler cap is on the same side as the driver to try and save time when filling up - the driver can get out and doesn't need to walk around his vehicle to fill up.

The story about the icon on the fuel gauge showing which side the filler cap is by the side of the pump handle was debunked some time ago as an urban myth (although it is a good idea!)


Oli.