Most Obscure Prius Facts (Way out there)

I rent cars frequently in my line of work. Almost all that I have driven over the last few years have a little arrow or "triangle" indicating the fill side of the automobile. It is usually on the right or left side of the gasoline pump icon. This convention is not just true of the Prius.

(Some have said that the side of the pump icon that has the "hose" is the side the filler is on, but I cannot verify that this is true. However, the triangle/arrow certainly is correct)

This is a real help when you are rushing to put gas in the rental car prior to returning it; you don't need to remember what side of the car the filler is on, or stop the car to check. Just look at the dash board.

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Here's a related pet peeve: many Japanese branded automobiles have the filler on the left. This is the correct orientation for automobiles driven in the U.S. and other countries where cars are driven on the right hand side of the road. In this manner you pull to the right of the pump island, and the filler will be on the left side of the auto near the pump.

But some U.S. manufacturers (most notably Ford) put the filler on some of their cars on the right!!! This means that you either have to pull the hose over your car to fill, or have to pull up on the "incorrect" left (oncoming traffic) side of the pump.

Although I can think of business reasons why Ford may do this, it is still irritating. Especially when many Japanese models have them on the left.

And they wonder why we don't buy American as much.....

 

Hello 200Volts:

I just finished reading all 78 pages, 780 posts on your thread. It has been great, both very educational and very funny at times! :lol:

I was wondering if you've been compiling a list of all the truly "obscure and helpful" hints that could be put into a fresh thread?

The new thread could then have all the already "discovered" ones up front, which would cut down on redundancy from those who would like to post new ones but don't want to read through all 78 pages of the current thread.

Maybe the new post could even become a "sticky". It would be a shame to loose all the helpful replies posted here to "obscurity"!

Thanks

 

I have understood this to be a result of the wrongful death settlements over the Ford Pinto Firebombs. Statistics at the time showed the right side to be the safest location. After losing this case, putting it elsewhere would have been more negligence for future product liability lawsuits.

It isn't just Ford. My Subaru has it there too.

 

We had a Toyota pickup with the fill location on the right. It's model specific, not manufacturer specific. My Ford Explorer has the fill location on the left.

 

Nissan also puts the filler on the right, at least on my Xterra. Hate that!

 

Here's one I didn't see (glancing thru all 79 pages ... whew! ) When bluetooth syncs and your on a phone call ... and at the same time if you've inputted a GPS destination, the phone caller gets over-ridden by (my wife calls 'her' the bitch) the female voice directions.

 

If this is true, then why didn't Ford change all of their models to have it on the right side??

 

I agree that it's model specific. However, it just seems to me that as far as American manufacturers are concerned, Ford has a higher percentage of models that have it on the right.

 

My guess is they (Auto makers) simply do parts-sharing of what gas tank they use on these multiple models. If this tank they share is point to the right, then all these different car models will have gas door on the right.

But left or right of the gas door is not a real matter. Gas station pumps always serve on each side anyway. Sometimes you'll be glad the gas door is on the 'lucky' side when the gas station is so crowded and only 1 open spot is left for the match-side.

 

Cool- Didn't know about the storage container under front cup holder! :tea:

 

It's usually a matter of aerodynamics. Depending on the airflow around the car, different tailpipe configurations will prevent the fumes from being sucked into the car.

For example, on VW Squarebacks and old VW Buses, there was a long tailpipe/resonator that moved the exit point from the rear center of the car to the far left edge, where the passing air pushed the fumes far back of the car before they could swirl up and get sucked into the rear hatch. Those who added non-stock mufflers often found the cars sucked fumes in. A mid-70s Buick had the "side exit" tailpipe and I could see (on a misty morning where the exhaust formed a lot of visible vapor as it drove away) it pushed the fumes out where they got led back quite a distance before swirling about.

Most cars have lower pressure inside the car so outside fumes get sucked in through vents or leaky seals. I would guess wind tunnel tests showed them where a particular body style pushes the air.

 

I wouldn't have known about it if my salesman hadn't shown me.

I keep my gun in there. I figure if many of us that OWN the car don't know it's there, a thief likely won't know it's there either.

 

X2. Swiffer and Keltec P3AT fit perfectly. That's also where I put the key at the car wash.

 

My Subaru had it on the right, and I prefer it. With the opening on the driver's side, I've ended up half-jammed in some gas stations where the pumps and the pump protectors and the roof pillars conspire to trap you in the car if you're close to the pump. On the passenger side opening, you can always get out of the car easily.

 

The headlight control stem (which you rotate to turn it on/off) has a dimpled recession in the back so you can feel it with your fingertip and know which position it's currently set at without looking.

 

There is actually a purpose (albeit a minor one) served by having a mix of left- and right-sided fillup ports. One of the gas stations I frequently use is configured "one-way" in that everyone enters from one direction and exits from the other, and there isn't room to turn around. Having left and right fillups means that cars tend to be pretty evenly distributed between left- and right-hand sides of pumps. Presumably, if everyone's fill were on the right-hand side, then the line would be twice as long on that side of the pump, and the other side would either be empty, or require one to drag the hose to the far side of the car.

 

If you get out of your car and with the doors closed press either lock or unlock on the fob, the car will lock imediately if you press lock or it will lock in about 30 seconds if you press unlock. So if your car is in a secure spot it don't matter which button you press.
Handy when your hands are full.

 

I know the manual said not to jump start anyone else, but others can jump start us. Someone asked me to jump start them yesterday, but because the manual said I couldn't I had to make something up like...

"the new Gen III's powerful hybrid battery might blow up your battery, still wanna give it a shot?"

I still curious why we cant jump start others... I'm more concerned about the Prius being affected, not a conventional car.