Which side is your gas tank filler on? Don't look back.

[usonian]

It's on your dash.



Here, it's on the driver's left.
Its inventor just passed away.

Ford Engineer That Designed Gas Tank Indicator Passes Away

https://fordauthority.com/2025/12/ford-engineer-that-designed-gas-tank-indicator-passes-away/

James Moylan is most well-known for the Moylan Arrow, which stems from one rainy day in 1986, when he pulled a company car into a gas station to refuel it - only to discover that he parked on the wrong side of the pump. Moylan wound up getting soaked, which set of a proverbial light bulb - what if cars had an arrow near the fuel indicator gauge as a quick, visual reference to inform drivers which side is used to refuel?

“I got back to my office after the meeting, and without even taking my coat off, I sat down and started writing the first draft of this proposal,” Moylan told Design News in 2020. “I typed it up and turned it in and forgot completely about it." "The indicator or symbol I have in mind would be located near the fuel gauge,” Moylan wrote in his proposal to his boss, R. F. Zokas, “and simply describe to the driver on which side of the vehicle the fuel fill door is located.” By 1989, the Moylan Arrow began showing up in Ford vehicles, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Thanks!

[House of Roberts]

1. Rita Rudner says she has a car with a rotating gas tank.

The filler is always on the side away from the pump.

[Raven123]

26. She is priceless

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. Unless you own many cars,

you ought to learn where the gas tank filler is the first or second time you put gas in. And no, it never moves to the other side.

[UpInArms]

6. My Subaru is on the passenger side

The ford ranger and the Honda civic are on the driver side …

Sometimes it takes me a bit figure out what I’m driving

[dflprincess]

13. I also have a Subaru and it's the first car I've ever owned with the gas tank on the passenger side

The first several months I had it, I pulled up to the pump thinking it was on the driver's side more than once (and did I feel goofy when I did that).

[mwmisses4289]

20. Yup, Vw has the tank on the passenger side

I will have to look at my dash and pay attention to the arrow.

[PJMcK]

23. Rental cars

Company vehicles.

Friends’ or family member’s cars.

All vehicles have a fuel gauge but most also have a low fuel warning light. Do you consider that indicator useless?

It’s not just your car, it’s a convenience.

Clearly the industry and public don’t agree with your point of view.

[Phoenix61]

3. So convenient when you're in a rental.

I did have to ask a gas station attendant how to open the gas tank cover. He laughed and said he had to do that a lot for that car… the release was in the glove box!

[3catwoman3]

7. That seems very odd. I don;t know that I'd have thought to look there.

What make of car was this?

[Phoenix61]

8. I don't remember. It was a cheap rental around 1989.nt

P

[littlemissmartypants]

48. Was it an Audi?

https://anusedcar.com/audi/how-to-open-gas-tank-in-audi-q5/

[Phoenix61]

49. I don't think so. Seems a little high end for Hertz.

Maybe a Ford Taurus?

[littlemissmartypants]

50. Seems unlikely...

Ford has release on floorboard unless it was an older model and those are spring-loaded.

Luxury (so-called) cars are the most likely to have the release in the glove box.

[viva la]

4. That's one of those common-sense fixes--

that we all think we should have thought of.

"Squeezable ketchup bottle"-- I swear I thought that first.

[3catwoman3]

43. My brilliant idea - I've long thought French onion soup...

…should be accompanied by a small scissor so you can just snip off the cheese rather than lift the spoon over your head until the cheese strand thins out enough to break.

[True Dough]

53. Just so long as you realize

it is not recommended to squeeze ketchup into your gas tank!

[3catwoman3]

5. What a great trivia question.

Mine is on the driver's side, which I find preferable.

And, this might be weird, but I don't like pulling the gas hose across my car, so I usually will wait in line to go to a pump that will be on the driver's side.

[Delarage]

24. I get my gas at BJs

There are always lines waiting for the driver side pumps....where my Corolla's filler is....and I love skipping all that and pulling the hose all the way over. Doesn't seem to damage anything, saves time & gas, and my car is SUPER OLD. So it works for me 👍

[MichMan]

35. I would rather wait a few minutes to not have to drag the hose across the car.

See it happening all the time at Costco

[3catwoman3]

42. I would also rather wait, so I usually do.

At our local Costco, most of the customers are polite and patient, and typically wait for both cars at the pump(s) to finish and leave so the next 2 cars in line can pull in without having to squeeze thru the middle space and then awkwardly back in to the first pump.

Sometimes, the attendants put out the orange traffic cones in that middle space so people have to wait. I like it when they do that - safer, IMO.

[usonian]

9. I got a loaner Subaru, and was looking for the gas cap release lever. There was none.

It somehow worked without it. Have to research. No "magic" key.


THAT I KNEW OF!!!

[Old Crank]

14. Gas tank cover release

Some have a cable. Usually driver's side on the A pillar below the dash or in front of the seat at the floor. Many more have a much the cover release to pop it open. This is lighter and has fewer things to go bad, like dirt and rust in the cable from the cabin.
The cable release usually opens a driverside cover. The last rental I had, the person showed me where the release was.

[HappyH]

56. I had a new loaner Subaru.

The gas door is unlocked if you have the fob in your pocket and are close to the gas door. The passenger doors and hatch work the same way.

[usonian]

57. Yes, apparently so.

When things get too "fly by wire" I get nervous.

The driver's door opens when I turn the key and the gas latch opens when I pull the lever.

2018 seems to be roughly the dividing line. There are very winding roads up here and the loaner lane warning was going off all the time. I have stick-on wide angle mirrors instead of the proximity warning --- the one accessory besides fog lights that I miss. I think they wanted $500 for fog lights, and TBH, I looked at the stalk and it's way too complicated. I never really figured out the rear window wiper activator.

Voice control? Only if passengers can't be heard and misunderstood. Unless it's "Subie, get me a beer ".... wait, this is an auto. Cancel that. Get me a tea with lemonade!

The newer model had WAY better entertainment system. Mainly they cut the glare. As it is, the glare is horrible on the 2018. I took the cowl out of the speedometer well. I couldn't see anything there with all the glare.

Simple optics. You'd think that the Japanese would have been on top of this sooner.

[HappyH]

58. The first thing I did with the Subi loaner

was turn off the touchscreen and the lane beeper. They were very distracting and annoying. I live in the mountains and it’s hard to drive without cutting a few curves..
My Subi is a 2009 model. No touchscreen or annoying beeps. There is a small information screen that tells me all I need to know. I had the motor replaced recently because fixing it was cheaper than a new one and it’s a 5 speed stick. It’s a lot of fun on a twisty mountain road.

[usonian]

59. I didn't take the time to figure how to turn off the computer driving instructor.

I had a 20 year old 2wd Tacoma, and an AWD pickup cost twice the Forester. Same deal with mountains. The pickup could't pass anything on upgrades. The Forester has plenty of get up and go.


I didn't think so at the outset, and was thinking of a Highlander or Miata (zoom, zoom) but this gets the job done. Passes cars on an upgrade. Fabulous except for pickup jobs. Miss that.

Whoever wants my old round dining table gotta come pick it up.

[sdfernando]

10. Mine is on the

side where I put the gas in.

[CentralMass]

11. Mine is on the driver's side.

[LudwigPastorius]

12. My '72 Chevy Nova didn't have that problem.

The filler tube was behind the license plate in the back.

Similar to this:

[Old Crank]

15. I remember those.

And seeing cars drive away from the pump pouring gas out because they overfilled the tank. A great feature when you had to park your car over a puddle of gas to get to the pump.

[dflprincess]

16. My dad had a '57 Bel Air

I was about 4 when he got it. He amused himself by asking me to guess where the gas went in. I checked both sides of the car, then thought I'd show how smart I was because I knew it was behind the license plate on his old car. Wrong again.

It was behind a door on the tail fin. I was truly amazed - which is probably why I remember it so clearly.

[LudwigPastorius]

19. Woah.

That's some Space Age design right there!

[OldBaldy1701E]

27. Yep. I also had one and that is where it was.

My Pontiac Skylark was also designed in this way.

[MichMan]

33. Making it vulnerable to leaking after a rear end collision

Good thing safety regulations have improved since then

[Old Crank]

17. Borrowed a friends car to do an errand.

I knew about the arrow so when I pulled into the station I parked accordingly.
Wrong side. I had misread the dash and had seen an indicator for fuel economy or something and not the tank gage.

[summer_in_TX]

18. I never noticed Moylan's Arrow before this article. I'm looking forward to finding it in our two vehicles.

Very handy for those working with a fleet of cars or in the automobile industry especially.

Cool!

[underpants]

28. I'd never realized it either until a George Takei post 10 + years ago

We have a rental for the weekend. Nissan’s have them in the right.

[moniss]

21. Mine used to be in my driver's side rear fin on my '57 Chevy then

later on some of mine were on either side or behind the license plate. I liked my '57 the best.

[LisaM]

22. We learned this trick a few years ago when we had a rental.

It seems to me that it would be more sensible to just always put the gas tank on the same side in every car, but engineers seem resistant to standardization. I don't user copiers much anymore but it used to frustrate me to no end that toner cartridges were so stupidly different from each other.

[Emile]

25. Ford is backwards of other makes. Ford puts their

fill cap on the passenger side, and the dash gauge read full on the left, and empty on the right. Stupid 🙄

[padfun]

29. Neither of my Mustangs have either of those

Their gas fill is on the driver's side and the F on the gage is on the right side of the gauge,

[Emile]

30. Maybe it's just on the Ford Escape? I had several Ford pickup trucks

over the years, that had the fill caps on the passenger side too. All I know is, I don't don't like it.

Ford Escape dash gauge.

[marble falls]

31. My Ford Freestyle was on the right side. My biggest gripe after the screwed up CVT transmission. ...

... it's always on the opposite side the exhaust system runs.

[MichMan]

32. Every car I have ever owned has had it on the passenger side where it belongs

Think about it. If you were ever to run out of gas and need to refuel on the shoulder of the road, where would you rather be standing?

With your back to traffic as it zips a few feet away, or safely on the furthest side?

[JohnnyRingo]

36. I believe it's on that side because it was built for the Japanese market

Just like many minivans have the rear door on the left, opening into traffic here. Your filler was designed to be on the driver's side for when someone pulls up on the left side of the pump.

There's another way to tell where most of your car model was sold. In the rest of the world turn indicators are required to be amber, but cars intended to be primarily sold here will use one of the brake lights to signal a turn. I can see the Euro/Sino rule to be far better because it still uses two brake lights at all times. It's safer.

Now you can go out and look.

[MichMan]

37. Pretty certain my Volkswagen's and Ford's were not built for the Japanese market.

"I believe it's on that side because it was built for the Japanese market"

Like I stated, it is on the passenger side where it belongs.

[JohnnyRingo]

38. UK, Australia, India, China, and Japan.

Not all VWs or Fords have fillers on the right. Most are on the left.
It depends on where most of the platform is sold (or built).

[MichMan]

39. I live in the US

Already stated that having it on the right side in a country with LHD is much safer if you ever have to refuel on the side of the road.

If it is on the left side in the UK, Australia, Japan, and India, that would also be the reason because those are RHD countries. Much safer.

In my 67 years, I have owned five different Ford products, (both US and German manufactured) and nine different Volkswagens years ranging from 1981-2024. One of the VW was manufactured in the US, one in Mexico, and the reminder in Germany.

Every single one of my Fords and VW has had it on the right side.

[JohnnyRingo]

40. Let's put it this way....

You're the guy who pulls up on the wrong side of the pump. Haven't you ever noticed how you usually have to back out from the car in front of you? The rest of us have enough room to go around, but you're front bumper to front bumper with the car ahead.
Most people here drive up on the right side of the pump like on our roads. That conveniently puts the pump and the filler on the driver's side.

Now you can get out and walk around behind your car every time you need to get gas, but if you're ever on the side of the road pouring it in from a jerry can -something most people have never done - it would be worth it. ...I guess.

[MichMan]

44. I try and get gas from Costco when I can

They only allow you to drive in from one side, so your scenario doesn't happen there. Those lanes also generally have shorter wait times.

When I need to buy gas somewhere else, since I live in a rural area, there are always open pumps. I fact, the Mobil station I frequent when I need gas and not near a Costco only has one pump at each island, so there is no one in front of me anyway. Don't recall the last time I ever had to back up in a gas station. If I ever find myself facing someone bumper to bumper in the future, I guess they can back up.

[JohnnyRingo]

45. Wait! I've never been to Costco.

What do you mean they only allow you to drive up on one side? Which side do they dictate? Is it on the right side of the pump to make it easier for most cars?

Specifically, what model car do you have?

[MichMan]

46. Gas station lot is one way only

All the vehicles enter the lot on one side and exit on the other side. I have a 6 year old VW sedan and a 1 year old VW hatchback car.

[Old Crank]

41. My Jensen Healey had the filler in the center

Right behind the cockpit. Could fill from either side at the station or the side of the road.

[JohnnyRingo]

34. It's funny you mentioned that this week. He just died on Dec 11th.

He was 80 years old. I hope his headstone has an arrow to indicate where flowers are to be placed.

James Moylan was born in Detroit on December 19, 1944, and was hired by Ford as a draftsman in body engineering in March 1968. He was laid off in the '70s, but was later brought back to the company to work in plastics engineering, a growing sector as cars were getting smaller and cheaper. The idea came to Moylan on a rainy day in April 1986 when he hopped in one of Ford's employee fleet cars to drive to a meeting at another building. He had to fill up on the way, and, of course, parked with the wrong side of the car facing the gas pump, getting soaked by rain when he moved it. Moylan said he immediately had the idea to put an arrow in the gauge cluster indicating which side the gas cap is on, writing a draft of a "product convenience suggestion" proposal as soon as he got back to his desk.

In the proposal, which included a sketch of what it could look like (though using an illustration of the fuel door open, not just a simple arrow), Moylan said "Even if all Ford product lines eventually locate on the same side, for the minor investment involved on the company's part, I think it would be a worthwhile convenience not only for two car families, but also pool car users and especially car rental customers." He sent it off to his boss and promptly forgot all about it, until getting a reply seven months later from R. F. Zokas, a director of interior design, who said the arrow would be added to 1989 model year cars that were under development. The 1989 Ford Escort and Mercury Tracer were the first to use it, followed by the Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar.

Read More: https://www.jalopnik.com/2061179/inventor-little-arrow-what-side-fuel-filler-is-on-dies/

[usonian]

52. I picked it up from Hacker News.

No doubt, someone saw the obit, and posted.

I had picked up the "tell" from one grapevine or other some years ago.

[JohnnyRingo]

54. Like a case of being famous only after he dies.

I admit I had no idea who thought up the gas arrow. Never cared to look it up, but it makes an interesting story now.

[usonian]

55. The arrow was named for him, but only auto nuts knew or cared to search.

Or heard it on the grapevine. I had somd fun telling family and friends.

[kimbutgar]

47. I have two cars and one side the tanks on the left the other the right side

Thank goodness for his little tank arrow invention!

Rip Mr. Moylan

[markie]

51. for work

I was often using rentals and I really appreciated the picture on the dash.... my car now... plug-in on left front side (I have a convertor to use with Tesla chargers and always have to take up 2 spaces.... I make no friends when busy )