The person (committee?) who came up with USB A needs sanctions.

And Apple Needs more, for putting power buttons and key ports at that back.

[dead]

What's wrong with pulling up to the wrong side of the pump? I do it all the time when the petrol station is busy, just pull the hose over to the other side and fuel the car anyway.

BMW would put it behind a subscription

It drives usage up! Seriously, I wonder whether this “Make things to annoy people” trend is a normal situation, or an emerging behavior due to our era, and whether it will be solved one day. Example: In 2003 all UX was abominable, programs were ugly and black and white and text and boring, then came the iPhone with the idea to hire designers for apps, it was entirely new and absolutely unseen before. It was necessary during the take off phase of our industry, but are we simply witnessing the regression to normal, with UX being driven by corporate suits?

In the end, these engineers' job is make profit for the company. If the customer allows for all this crap, and still buys cars/fridges/tvs with such horrible UX, then it's the way forward.

Most of the instrument cluster is superfluous. My 81 Vanagon has only these and it's fine:

Speedometer (which starts at 10 mph and I've managed to adjust so it's about right at 40ish but reports 70 mph when you're doing 60), odometer (5.1 digits), fuel gauge (non-linear, but consistent, the top half is a lot bigger than the bottom half, no arrow because it hadn't been invented yet). And then some lights: brake warning lamp (but the bulb is burnt out and doesn't seem replacable), high beam indicator, alternator indicator, turn signal indicator (one led for both directions!), low oil pressure indicator, and EGR indicator which really just turns on 10,000 miles after you push the button on the box under the front of the car.

Don't even need a tach, cause they put one dot on the speedo where you should shift out of first, two dots where you should shift out of second, and three dots where you should shift out of third.

The gauge lights come on when the headlights are on, so that's a subtle indicator too, I guess.

Don't really need much more than that. There was an optional clock in my model year, but mine doesn't have one.

Why didn't they just ask ChatGPT?

Oh wait.

I was scrolling down the comments waiting for the first comment from someone experiencing this revelation.

I only learned maybe 5-6 years ago -- but then, I only bought my first car at age 55, because I have a kid and moved to a tiny country with infrequent public transport.

No

I agree. As much as people appreciate the factoid, it's not an example of good design.

I don't ever recall the arrow being paid attention to until listicles and other blog spam were born. It has all the elements of great clickbait.

The arrow indicates where the hole is.

I think this is the source of me misinterpreting the symbol a few times, so yes.

I do. It is not obvious in any case

Isnt it that nowadays usually on the side of the driving seat? Or does this apply only to EU vehicles?

Im not a regular car user, if at all Im renting - but the last 10 times(?) it was always just on the side of the driving seat

It points towards both the gas pump and also the side of the car that has the fuel filler, it’s impossible to confuse.

Yeah, it's a bit counter-intuitive.

I didn’t know it was possible to not know this.

I haven't ever noticed the arrow in 14 years until this article (I believe).

I'm sure about 99% of people are in the same boat.

Another car thing that is named after someone:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroney_sticker

Also known as the "Window Sticker"

First time I've heard of that convention.

That was the original idea on how the icon should be used but obviously too subtle.

Moylan basically added a modifier icon for clarity.

I've heard that the gauge always points towards the side the cap is on when pointing to empty

You’re not alone. I point this out to other millenials and gen z all the time and it’s usually the first time they learn about it.

No the filler placement is sort of a cultural or historical thing.

Usually European cars have filler on the passenger side while American and Japanese put them on the driver side.

Afaik passenger side fillers are more safe if you run out of gas and need to fill up from a canister at the side of the road.

While driver side fillers are more comfortable because you don't have to walk as far to get there.

Even if there was a single side for filling, direction of approach being random is enough for 50/50 utilization of the pumps — so I’m not convinced there’s a pressure to spread which side the tank is on.

Why would it matter? Just park on any side, I've never been to a fuel station where the hose wouldn't reach to the other side if needed. Or since you said gas and not petrol, is that an American thing? Do you guys have short hoses thah don't reach?

Our plugin hybrid has both a gas side on the left and electric side on the right. The electric side on the right is helpful in the US to allow parking curbside and charging the vehicle.

One side is "wronger" when driving an unnecessarily large land yacht. My Civic, it's fine.

Anecdotally I’ve driven far fewer cars; my Mazda 323 BG has the filler on the left, but my Subaru Forester SG is on the right, despite both being of Japanese origin.

My Forester is likely to be an exception rather than the rule, however I do feel that the everyday person isn’t going to make the connection between the country of origin and filler side, especially so if it’s not consistent.

I never noticed the Moylan Arrow on my Forester for a year in owning it, and often mixed up the side for that time. Interestingly, my 323 doesn’t have the Moylan Arrow, but the Ford Laser equivalent does.

Always found it incredibly strange that my Mazda 323 from 1995 (originally released in 1989) doesn’t have the arrow [1], but it’s co-developed Ford Laser KF/KH does [2]

Although, I believe the platform was primarily developed by Mazda so perhaps they didn’t catch onto this arrow until well after my generation of 323 was on the market.

[1] https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/cBUPxJJlgjs6KOI2.f... [2] https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Kv4AAOSwt-pjJtKG/s-l500.jpg

I live in India and what I've noticed is that the position of the "refuel your car" fuel pump icon shows where the inlet is.

When I lived in India you bought petrol from the petrol station in 2 litre plastic bottles.

And which side is the driver side? Surprise, it depends on the country. And a Japanese car manufacturer will move the driver controls to sell cars in USA/Continental Europe, but flipping everything else will cost more.

I've driven 2 models of an Italian brand, my previous car had the gas tank on the passenger side, and my current one has it on the driver side. I do wonder why they changed it.

There's also the issue of pulling to a small road side petrol station, having the fuel door on the passenger side means you don't have to be standing next to the busy road while refuelling.

safest place is put it opposite of drivers side, because if you're out of gas on the side of the road and filling it up, you won't be standing right next to freeway traffic. Saab started this.

My plug-in hybrid (Audi Q5) has the electric connector on the rear left (driver’s side) and the gasoline inlet on the rear right. I sure plug in way more than fill up.

The fuel side indicator is quite helpful to me.

What happens when they sell the car in a country that drives on the other side of the road? They would have to move everything around.

Are you sure ? Have been driving car myself when I visit. Since 2018 I don’t recollect a car without that arrow.

Most people do, with the exception of the woman awkwardly stretching the long hose over the roof of her minivan, scratching it in the process.