Fuel door arrow
The small arrow beside the fuel pump symbol on a fuel gauge. It points to the side of the vehicle the fuel filler door is on.
Easily confused with
How to read it
In Ford's words, from its F-150 manual: the arrow adjacent to the fuel pump symbol indicates on which side of your vehicle the fuel filler door is located.
Also searched as: fuel filler arrow, gas cap side indicator, gas tank side arrow, which side is my gas tank.
Dashboard symbols vary by manufacturer. The vehicle's owner's manual or a qualified mechanic can say what a light means for a particular vehicle.
An earlier arrow?
Torchinsky argues that an earlier version exists. The 1976 Mercedes-Benz W123 had a small red low fuel warning light next to the fuel gauge, shaped like a triangular arrow pointing right, where its fuel filler is. He still credits Moylan's printed arrow as the one that spread.
Read next
- Next in Dashboard warning lightsHigh beam indicatorA blue indicator that the headlamp high beams are on.
- The same shape in African flagsFlag of the ComorosThe Comoros flag is four horizontal stripes, yellow, white, red and blue from the top, with a green triangle along the pole holding a white crescent and four white stars in a line between its tips. Norway’s Store norske leksikon explains the crescent as the symbol of Islam and the four stars as the four islands of the Comoros; Lex says the four stripes are said to stand for the islands too.
More dashboard warning lights
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with squares and rectangles or triangles.
Sources
- 2020 F-150 Owner's Manual, Ford Motor Company, Instrument Cluster: Warning Lamps and Indicators
- The Inventor Of The Little Arrow That Tells You What Side The Fuel Filler Is On Has Finally Been Found, Jason Torchinsky, 8 October 2018, Jalopnik
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 25, 2026. How we research
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