Is their a rhyme or reason, why certain car companies place their gas tanks on the driver side (mostly American or Japanese) while the Europeans usually put it on the passenger side of the car. Germany drives on the same side as the US so this has always perplexed me....

Don't laugh at me...

 

Well technically I don't think you're talking about the tanks which are usually centrally located, but instead the filler pipe / cap / flap.

I don't know the reasons though why one side vs. the other.

I like how on Fords and Mazdas though there's a little arrow in the gas guage showing which side the flap is on. This has helped me CONSTANTLY because we have 3 vehicles.

 

According to BMW, they put the filler/flap on the right side because statistcally that's the least likely place to get hit in an accident.

 

Honestly, I can't stand that the gas tank on my old SC and my LS is on the passanger side. Especially when you have other cars that are all on the drivers side. Sometimes I forget and pull up on the wrong side of the gas pump. Even if you get it right, you have to walk to the passenger side to fill up. It is not a big deal, just a pet peeve.

 

My GS has the tank on the driver's side, but my LS has it on the passenger's side. And my old GS had it on... I don't remember which side, lol. Doesn't bother me either way, but I do get confused with the LS once in a while, pulling up to the wrong side.

 

It should be on the driver side. Because when filling gas, it is usually the driver who fills it up and the closer the flap the better for the driver...!

 

In a fit of trying to please everyone, several American carmakers in the '70's put the filler pipe in the middle of the valence panel just above the rear bumper - providing not only instant access to raw fuel in a collision, but a handy ignition source from all of the taillight wiring. The result was the infamous Pinto, and various GM 4-wheeled Molotov cocktails.

As if that weren't enough, Ford designed the fuel tank in a number of models - Mustang comes to mind - not just to serve as the bottom of the trunk, but to be a structural member of the rear end. Whoever thought up that cost-saving measure should have been condemned to drive one for the next 20 years. Talk about "consigned to the flames" . . . .