Automakers Are Stealing Your Stuff: Hey, Where'd My Gas Cap and Spare Tire Go?

Your next car will come with two fewer items like it or not. The reasons are mainly cost. Here's what will be missing.

Bye Bye Gas Cap
The first is a good thing. You won't have a gas cap to fiddle with anymore. More and more vehicles, like the Ford shown above, are getting rid of the gas cap. It's about time. Since cars all have fuel filler doors now anyway, what point does the cap serve? Well, in an old-style car it was part of the safety and emissions system, locking in the fuel and vapors where they belonged.

However, it isn't rocket science to design a fuel filler door that is self-closing and opened by the proper insertion of a fuel nozzle. Ford and many other automakers now use designs like the Easy Fill shown above to make fueling just a little bit easier.

Here, ICE cars are now one step ahead of electric vehicles. All of the electric vehicles we have tested require fussy covers for both the female receptacle inside the charging door and also for the male charge section.

Hey, Where's My Spare Tire?
Your automaker is stealing your spare and pretending it's for space savings or weight savings reasons. We are pretty sure they are full of baloney. This is a money grab, pure and simple. AAA has found that fully one-third of new models lack a spare tire. And not just in vehicles equipped with run-flat tires (which we despise).

Many new vehicles have conventional tires and no spare or tire-change tools. Instead, you get a baby compressor and a can of gunk to insert into the tire that was punctured. If the sidewall is torn, you are out of luck. Worse, finding a spare as an option is very unlikely. It is typically either there or not. If not, getting one after the car is purchased is unlikely for many shoppers.