Gas caps

[Roadrunner75]

Surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet, but most vehicles have some kind of indicator on the fuel gauge telling you which side the filler is located on. Of course, the people who have trouble remembering which side the filler is on probably won't remember that either.

It's funny, I don't think I've ever driven a car, including rentals, that had any such indicator. I have seen very prominent "DIESEL" indicators on the fuel gauge on rental cars I drove in the UK, but that's quite understandable.

That little indicator on the guage is one of those things where you would never notice it if someone doesn't point it out, you've driven enough cars with the caps on the opposite sides or if you stumbled upon it in a manual.  I don't think I realized what that was until a few cars in, probably after I noticed that it was pointing in opposite directions depending on the car I was driving at the time...

[1995hoo]

It's funny, I don't think I've ever driven a car, including rentals, that had any such indicator. I have seen very prominent "DIESEL" indicators on the fuel gauge on rental cars I drove in the UK, but that's quite understandable.

Vehicles sold in the U.S., regardless of make & model, have had such fuel door marking indicators near the fuel gauge since the 1990s.

Not disputing your comment, but I can't say I've ever noticed any such indicator in any car I've ever driven. I'll have to get down really close and squint at my dashboard this afternoon....


(edited to fix mangled quotes)

[hbelkins]

Just look to see if there is a little triangle pointing to the right or the left located in close proximity to the gas gauge.

Drove my wife's vehicle on Saturday and noticed the text "FUEL > DOOR" (but the > was a triangle) near the gas gauge. I think mine just has the triangle without the text. Hers is a 2003 Saturn Vue, mine is a 2008 Vue.

[roadman]

Just look to see if there is a little triangle pointing to the right or the left located in close proximity to the gas gauge.

Drove my wife's vehicle on Saturday and noticed the text "FUEL > DOOR" (but the > was a triangle) near the gas gauge. I think mine just has the triangle without the text. Hers is a 2003 Saturn Vue, mine is a 2008 Vue.

My 2012 Focus has a gas pump icon with a > symbol, but it only appears if you pull up the "Average MPG" screen.  My 1999 Contour had a similar gas pump icon, but IIRC, the > symbol only appeared when the "Low Fuel" light came on.

edited to clarify the gas pump icon - thanks PHLBOS

[1995hoo]

Just look to see if there is a little triangle pointing to the right or the left located in close proximity to the gas gauge.

Drove my wife's vehicle on Saturday and noticed the text "FUEL > DOOR" (but the > was a triangle) near the gas gauge. I think mine just has the triangle without the text. Hers is a 2003 Saturn Vue, mine is a 2008 Vue.

None of our cars have any sort of triangle whatsoever. The only thing I can think of that might be considered to show which side the fuel-filler door is on would be the position of the pump in the gas-pump icon. I just e-mailed this same picture to my parents and asked them to tell me how the icon is oriented in my mother's Volvo S80. Her gas cap is on the passenger's side, so I'm curious whether the pump icon is reversed in that car. (If that's supposed to tell the driver on which side he can find the fuel-filler door, that's pretty damn subtle for the average driver out there. I think the "exit tab is on the side of the sign where the ramp is" principle is not something most drivers know about, yet it's far less subtle than the way the gas-pump icon faces.)

Picture of my 2004 Acura TL taken about 15 minutes ago (fuel-filler door is on driver's side):





Edited to follow up: I asked my father about the Volvo and he looked at both their cars (a 1998 Acura 3.5 RL and a 2010 Volvo S80). He said the pump icon looks the same on each despite the fuel-filler doors being on opposite sides (driver's side on the Acura, passenger's side on the Volvo). The Volvo doesn't use a gauge with a needle, though–it has a digital graph-like thing and that graph has a little triangle pointing to the passenger's side. The Acura has a gauge with a needle and no triangle or other indicator. So the idea that the pump icon tells you on which side you can find the fuel-filler door appears to be an urban legend.

[signalman]

None of our cars have any sort of triangle whatsoever. The only thing I can think of that might be considered to show which side the fuel-filler door is on would be the position of the pump in the gas-pump icon.
Picture of my 2004 Acura TL taken about 15 minutes ago (fuel-filler door is on driver's side):

I'm surprsed to see that your Acura doesn't have the triangle next to the fuel gauge pointing to the left side of the car.  Acura's lesser expensive counterpart Honda has it.  I currently own a 2014 Civic and I've driven serveral Accords ranging from 2002 to 2014; all of which had the triangle pointing to the left.

Granted, I've never seen a Honda or Acura that had the fuel door on the right.  But how is John Q. Vehicle owner/leasee supposed to know that?

[PHLBOS]

Picture of my 2004 Acura TL taken about 15 minutes ago (fuel-filler door is on driver's side):

The 2014 Acura models have the arrow next to the gas pump symbol in question.
2014 Acura TSX shown below:


Doing another Image Search and found a 2008 TL instrument cluster that had the same fuel door arrow as well.  I have no idea why a 2004 Acura would not feature such.  Just about every other car in the market did by then.

So the idea that the pump icon tells you on which side you can find the fuel-filler door appears to be an urban legend.

Not the pump icon itself (which has been on instrument panels since 1981) but rather an arrow/triangle next to said-icon.

[1995hoo]

The 2008 and 2014 may have that, but I wouldn't consider that to be conclusive as to the following blanket statement, would you?

Vehicles sold in the U.S., regardless of make & model, have had such fuel door marking indicators near the fuel gauge since the 1990s.

[PHLBOS]

The 2008 and 2014 may have that, but I wouldn't consider that to be conclusive as to the following blanket statement, would you?

Vehicles sold in the U.S., regardless of make & model at least among domestic brands, have had such fuel door marking indicators near the fuel gauge since the 1990s.

Original post has been since edited/corrected; see above.

My '97 Crown Vic, a vehicle that was considered to be an archiac dinosaur even then, had the < indicated with the words FUEL FILL DOOR placed right next to it.  The first Crown Vic that offered it was the 1990 model.

My 2012 Focus has a gas pump icon with a > symbol, but it only appears if you pull up the "Average MPG" screen.

I just did an Image Search for the 2012 Focus and the fuel gauge shows the gas pump icon with the small triangle pointing towards to the right.

My 1999 Contour had a similar symbol, but it only appeared when the "Low Fuel" light came on.

That's odd.  Most of the Ford Contour clusters, eBay has several, show the fuel pump icon with the triangle pointing right located at the lower right corner of the fuel gauge.

[roadman]

That's odd.  Most of the Ford Contour clusters, eBay has several, show the fuel pump icon with the triangle pointing right located at the lower right corner of the fuel gauge.

Thanks for the correction (I've updated my original post).  What I meant to say was that the cluster had the gas pump icon, but the > symbol only came on when the low fuel light came on.  The only reason I recall this is because as I went to leave on the test drive (the salesmen trusted me to take the car out by myself), I noticed the low fuel light was lit.  Salesman took the car and came back about ten minutes later - car had a full tank of gas.

After that, Sarah's fuel warning light came on only once in all the years I drove her - see https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=8784.msg208812;topicseen#msg208812 for details.

[Duke87]

My girlfriend's 2013 Focus looks basically the same as the above image. It has that angle bracket to the right but it's not immediately intuitive that it's pointing to the gas cap. My 2009 Focus had a right pointing triangle next to the fuel pump icon and my 2011 Sentra does as well.

What I don't recall ever having seen is a left pointing triangle. It seems to me that they put the right pointing triangle as a reminder since a drivers' side cap is more intuitive to most people.
Of course, for quite a while every car in my immediate family has featured a passenger side gas cap, so at this point having the gas cap be on the drivers' side seems weird to me!

I am aware enough of this being an issue, though, that whenever I get in an unfamiliar car the question of "which side is the gas cap on" is something I do usually think to check before pulling into a gas station. The first car in my family to have a passenger side cap (one of my father's Sentras from several cars ago) also had the triangle and after we realized the oddity of the cap being on the right we very quickly noticed the little triangle on the fuel gauge. Ever since I now know to look for it. This is a thing a lot of people don't notice, eh?

[roadman]

The instrument cluster in the MK3 Focus (2012 to present) hasn't changed between 2012 and 2014.  Can't vouch for the new 2015 model, as I've not seen one yet.

[realjd]

My wife and I are planning a trip to Rome. I need to ask American Express whether I can get a chip-and-PIN card. (I'm also interested in trying out Apple Pay next month when it debuts.)

Amex, along with most other big banks, is issuing EMV cards now if you call and ask. They're all going chip-and-signature though, not chip-and-PIN. It still works fine in a Europe.

Be prepared for the occasional confused store clerk here in the US. As the chip readers are starting to come online here in the US, store clerks are very confused when they swipe your card and it comes back with an "error: insert card" message.

[realjd]

As for the triangle on the fuel gauge icon, it's been a very long time since I drove a rental car without the triangle. Left or right, foreign or domestic, they all have it.

[vdeane]

Amex, along with most other big banks, is issuing EMV cards now if you call and ask. They're all going chip-and-signature though, not chip-and-PIN. It still works fine in a Europe.

Be prepared for the occasional confused store clerk here in the US. As the chip readers are starting to come online here in the US, store clerks are very confused when they swipe your card and it comes back with an "error: insert card" message.

Chip-and-signature won't work on automated card readers where there's no clerks (kiosks, gas pumps, etc.) and I've read that some merchants have a policy that says they won't accept signature-based cards even if they can carry out the transaction.  I don't understand why we're doing it this way.  We're going to the expense of a new standard but adopting one that is less secure, less convenient (who wants to sign when using their card?  Not me - I'd rather punch in a PIN and be done, especially since I never mastered the art of signing things quickly/consistently), and still different from the entire rest of the world, just because some Americans (and Visa) fear change.

[PHLBOS]

What I don't recall ever having seen is a left pointing triangle.

Both my fore-mentioned '97 Crown Vic. & '07 Mustang have such.

2005-2009 Mustang GT gauge shown:

[Duke87]

Chip-and-signature won't work on automated card readers where there's no clerks (kiosks, gas pumps, etc.) and I've read that some merchants have a policy that says they won't accept signature-based cards even if they can carry out the transaction.  I don't understand why we're doing it this way.  We're going to the expense of a new standard but adopting one that is less secure, less convenient (who wants to sign when using their card?  Not me - I'd rather punch in a PIN and be done, especially since I never mastered the art of signing things quickly/consistently), and still different from the entire rest of the world, just because some Americans (and Visa) fear change.

It has nothing to do with fearing change and everything to do with being cheap and not wanting to spend money.

Going from using a magstrip to using a chip is a front-end change for which most of the cost is borne by retailers, since they are the ones that have to buy new card readers. Pretty much all the credit card companies have to do is start sticking a chip in the new cards they send people. I got one myself last week. It's spiffy.

Going from signature to PIN, however, is largely a back-end change that requires the credit card companies to rewrite their software and such, and take the effort of making all their customers create a PIN when they get a new card. I'm sure the credit card companies have done their actuarial work and determined that the cost of doing this would exceed the lost revenue of not doing it and that therefore it isn't worth it, customer convenience be damned. So you're not going to start seeing PINs unless regulators demand it or unless the signatures prove to be an achilles heel which allows there to still be major security issues.

Yes, this means the US does it a different way from the rest of the world, but that's true of a lot of things. This means Americans may have problems using their credit cards when they travel, and people from other countries may have problems using their credit cards when they visit the US. The industry has determined that both of these problems are infrequent enough to not matter. 64% of Americans do not even have a passport, after all.

[vdeane]

When I got my initial HSBC MasterCard, it has a pre-set cash advance PIN that was randomly generated.  The card companies could just do that.

I think chip-and-pin cards work with chip-and-signature systems, but of course the reverse is not true, so in essence, anyone will be able to use a credit card anywhere, unless they're American, in which case they will be able to use a card in the US only.  *cue rant about unfairness and how we have a duty to make life as fair as possible for everyone*

[realjd]

Amex, along with most other big banks, is issuing EMV cards now if you call and ask. They're all going chip-and-signature though, not chip-and-PIN. It still works fine in a Europe.

Be prepared for the occasional confused store clerk here in the US. As the chip readers are starting to come online here in the US, store clerks are very confused when they swipe your card and it comes back with an "error: insert card" message.

Chip-and-signature won't work on automated card readers where there's no clerks (kiosks, gas pumps, etc.) and I've read that some merchants have a policy that says they won't accept signature-based cards even if they can carry out the transaction.  I don't understand why we're doing it this way.  We're going to the expense of a new standard but adopting one that is less secure, less convenient (who wants to sign when using their card?  Not me - I'd rather punch in a PIN and be done, especially since I never mastered the art of signing things quickly/consistently), and still different from the entire rest of the world, just because some Americans (and Visa) fear change.

I've used my chip-and-sig EMV cards in plenty of unattended kiosks in several countries. The only place I really have a problem with it is Australia where they have their EFTPOS network, but it's never an issue at manned ticket counters. There are also plenty of other countries that are primarily chip-and-sig (much of SE Asia and South America for instance) so the US isn't alone in that. A few EU nations are primarily chip-and-sig also (Italy and Spain IIRC).

I've encountered foreign shopkeepers uncomfortable with mag-swipe cards but never chip-and-sig. The worst that happens is that I have to inform them that I have to sign because they don't really look at the slip that prints out.

[realjd]

Chip-and-signature won't work on automated card readers where there's no clerks (kiosks, gas pumps, etc.) and I've read that some merchants have a policy that says they won't accept signature-based cards even if they can carry out the transaction.  I don't understand why we're doing it this way.  We're going to the expense of a new standard but adopting one that is less secure, less convenient (who wants to sign when using their card?  Not me - I'd rather punch in a PIN and be done, especially since I never mastered the art of signing things quickly/consistently), and still different from the entire rest of the world, just because some Americans (and Visa) fear change.

It has nothing to do with fearing change and everything to do with being cheap and not wanting to spend money.

Going from using a magstrip to using a chip is a front-end change for which most of the cost is borne by retailers, since they are the ones that have to buy new card readers. Pretty much all the credit card companies have to do is start sticking a chip in the new cards they send people. I got one myself last week. It's spiffy.

Going from signature to PIN, however, is largely a back-end change that requires the credit card companies to rewrite their software and such, and take the effort of making all their customers create a PIN when they get a new card. I'm sure the credit card companies have done their actuarial work and determined that the cost of doing this would exceed the lost revenue of not doing it and that therefore it isn't worth it, customer convenience be damned. So you're not going to start seeing PINs unless regulators demand it or unless the signatures prove to be an achilles heel which allows there to still be major security issues.

Yes, this means the US does it a different way from the rest of the world, but that's true of a lot of things. This means Americans may have problems using their credit cards when they travel, and people from other countries may have problems using their credit cards when they visit the US. The industry has determined that both of these problems are infrequent enough to not matter. 64% of Americans do not even have a passport, after all.

Chip-and-pin isn't a back end change. The technology works by authenticating the PIN against the chip itself, not a server, so it's offline authentication.