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James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies

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41–50 of 228 posts

Re: James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies

#41

You can do a while lifetimes work, and yet sometimes it's a tiny action like this which can have the biggest benefit to mankind. Just think how many billions of times someone has avoided pulling up to the wrong side of the pump because of this arrow - literal lifetimes of effort saved.

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.

No the people who decided that usb 3.2 gen 2x2 and usb 4 version 2.0 gen 4x2 were acceptable names are the ones who should be sanctioned

Re: James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies

#44
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I actually use it all the time when driving a rental.

I use it all the time because I switch between a lot of different cars a lot, and my memory is not that great.

Re: James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies

#45

Anybody else get confused by whether the arrow represents where the car should be or the pump?

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.

I use it regularly

Re: James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies

#46
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

whats wrong with usb-a? I feels more sturdy and less likely to have connection issues then usb-c in my experience.

> whats wrong with usb-a?

Which way up it should go.

Re: James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies

#47
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

whats wrong with usb-a? I feels more sturdy and less likely to have connection issues then usb-c in my experience.

> whats wrong with usb-a? Which way up it should go.

The other way

Re: James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies

#48

Anybody else get confused by whether the arrow represents where the car should be or the pump?

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

Re: James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies

#49
post #31
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They could design the fuel tank to be symmetrical about the axis parallel to the car’s axels. This would let it be flipped during installation at the factory to have the refueling port facing either side. Then the only difference would be the body panel and little door that covers the gas cap.

They could but there are downstream packaging compromises that would cause. It is easier to design the vehicle without imposing that design constraint on yourself

Re: James Moylan, engineer behind arrow signaling which side to refuel a car, dies

#50
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

A linked article agrees: "... many European cars have the fuel door located on the passenger side, while many Japanese and American vehicles have the fuel door on the driver side. Both techniques have valid reasons. European automakers place the fuel filler on the passenger side for the sake of safety when a vehicle has run out of fuel and has pulled off onto the shoulder of the road to fill up from a canister. Meanw…

thank you, didnt know that, although Im in EU :-))
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