I recently read an email where in it said that, when sitting in any car, you can always tell which side of the car to fill with fuel by looking at the gas pump symbol on the dash & the side of the pump that the hose is shown will be the side to fill from. Not so on the Prius, which I just discovered. The hose is on the right side of the pump ! But, there is an arrow to the left of the dash gas pump which does point to the left, the side to fill from. Is this really old news ? If so, please no flaming. If not - HURRAH !!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mr. Zorg @ Nov 18 2007, 08:15 PM) [snapback]541414[/snapback]</div> Yep. Me too!
I've never heard the gas pump symbol story. All the symbols I've seen have the hose on the right. All the cars I've had that have an indication used an arrow.
I've heard two variants on the hose theory; the first being the side of the hose = the side of the car, as the OP suggested; and the second being if the fuel gauge is left of the speedo, then the cap is on the left of the car, and right for right. I've also found that this theory does not apply consistently, so you have to stop and look for the flap anyway. At least my prius has an arrow
I drive a few different car in my work. I pull the release then look for the flap in the side mirrors.
I used to travel for business extensively and always looked to the gas gauge to determine what side the gas lid was on. Just about any business traveler will tell you that when you are on the way to the airport on a Friday afternoon, you do not want to have to jockey the car around the gas station trying to top off the tank. With what I consider very few exceptions, I believe that it is pretty consistent that the gas symbol is on the same side of the gauge as the lid is on the car. For those - such as the Prius - where it is not, I have seen arrows pointing. Where I did find considerable inconsistency was in the functionality of wipers, headlights, and other assorted steering wheel stalk functions.
Here's a somewhat-related factoid some may find interesting... The exhaust tailpipe is (AFAIK) always on the opposite side of the car in relation to the fuel door, except of course when said car has duel exhaust pipes. Presumably, I would imagine this is done to distance a source of heat from flammable fumes... Check it out... B)
I had never noticed the little gas pump icon before. Today, after reading this thread, I looked for it. The pump handle on the icon is opposite the fuel filler. The little arrow points towards the filler. But whenever I rent a car I just look to see which side the filler door is on.
