Apparently, this question has plagued car owners for some time. We found a number of theories in various automotive forums. Here are a few: - Car makers place the fuel door on arbitrary sides so everyone doesn't try to pull up to the same side of the pump at gas stations.
- On German vehicles, the gas door is always on the right so people don't have to stand in a traffic lane when fueling on a roadway.
- The gas filler will almost always be on the opposite side of the vehicle from the exhaust pipe.
This last theory appears to be correct. Indeed, none other than Car Talk's Click and Clack,
in the employ of NPR, confirm this last hypothesis. According to the boys, there is no universal standard for placement of the gas filler, but "the exhaust system has to go down one side of the car, and the gasoline filler tube generally goes on the other." So it's the vehicle's engineering design that determines the location of the gas tank. And who knows -- perhaps in the future gas tanks will only be available as an option. Just kidding about that last part.
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