Bad Designs - Which side has the gas cap?

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Which side has the gas cap?

Picture of our two cars - one with the gas cap on the left
and the other on the right.

Every time we go to the gas station we have to remember which side of the car the gas cap is on so we know which side of the gas pump to pull up to. This seems to be more difficult than necessary to remember. This picture shows why. The gas cap is on the right side of one of our cars and on the left side of the other. No wonder it is hard to remember!

Design suggestion

Sometimes standards are nice to have. It doesn't seem like it would matter much which side to put gas caps on cars, but it would be nice if they were always on the same side. A standard place for gas caps would make it much easier to remember.

Readers' comments

Many people had comments on this example. Thanks to all! Here are some representative comments:

The problem with gas caps being on different sides of the car may cause problems, but it means that typically more cars can fill up at the gas station at the same time. Some can go on the left side of the gas pump... some go on the right. -CS
On my truck, there is an arrow pointing to the side where the gas cap is, the arrow is located right beside the fuel level gauge. -BD
Of course, the gas cap should always be on the side of the driver... -SG
Jaguar cars, and some other expensive makes, have two filler caps (to the same tank, I believe) so it doesn't matter which side you fill up on. -DH

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