James Moylan, the visionary behind the small yet significant dashboard arrow indicating a car’s fuel tank location, has passed away at 80. This simple but brilliant innovation, conceived in the late 1980s, has since made refueling easier for countless drivers worldwide.

Moylan died on December 11 at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. Details surrounding his death have not been disclosed publicly.

In Moylan’s obituary, it is noted that he valued the friendships he cultivated throughout his career more than his invention, the iconic dashboard arrow.

“Dad always chuckled about all the attention the arrow received in later years,” his son, Andrew Moylan, shared with Automotive News.

‘Dad always chuckled about all the attention the arrow received in later years,’ his son, Andrew Moylan, said in an interview with Automotive News. 

It is hard to imagine a world without the eponymous Moylan arrow, yet prior to 1989, drivers had to memorize or guess the location of the gas caps in their cars. 

Moylan came up with his simple but revolutionary idea on a rainy April day in 1986. He had taken a Ford employee fleet car to drive to a meeting, and when he stopped for gas, he parked with the wrong side of the car facing the pump. 

He only realized his mistake after leaving the car and getting soaked, which led him to think of an indicator that would have prevented him from making the mistake in the first place. 

James Moylan, inventor of the little arrow on a car’s dashboard that shows which side of the vehicle the fuel filler is on, died at the age of 80 earlier this month

It is hard to imagine a world without the Moylan arrow, yet prior to 1989, drivers had to memorize or guess the location of the fuel fillers in their cars

As a Ford employee, he was in a position to recommend the feature to his superiors, so he drafted a ‘product convenience suggestion’ proposal the same day. 

Moylan included a sketch of what the indicator could look like, drawing an open fuel door rather than an arrow and sent it to his boss. 

In the proposal, he wrote: ‘Even if all Ford product lines eventually locate on the same side, for the minor investment involved on the company’s part, I think it would be a worthwhile convenience not only for two car families, but also pool car users and especially car rental customers.’ 

Seven months later, Moylan received a response from then-Director of Interior Design, R F Zokas, that said an arrow would be added to the dashboards of the company’s 1989 model year cars that were being developed. 

As promised, the 1989 Ford Escort and Mercury Tracer featured the fuel filler indicator. The Ford Thunderbird and Mercury Cougar closely followed. 

The arrow was a hit, and over the next few decades it would become a fixture of nearly every car that has come off production lines across companies and countries around the world. 

Moylan was born in Detroit on December 19, 1944, as the youngest of six children. He was hired by Ford as a draftsman in body engineering in March 1968.

He was laid off in the 70s but was soon rehired to work in plastics engineering, which was a growing sector in the automotive industry at the time. 

Moylan submitted a proposal for a fuel filler indicator to his superiors at Ford in 1986, and in 1989, the arrow appeared for the first time in that year’s Ford Escort model (pictured)

The arrow was also introduced in the 1989 Mercury Tracer model (pictured)

Over the next few decades, the Moylan arrow became a fixture of nearly every car that has come off production lines across companies and countries around the world

After submitting his idea for the arrow, Moylan was stationed in Japan in the late 80s when Ford was partnered with Mazda. 

The inventor later went to night school at the University of Detroit Mercy in order to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in plastics manufacturing, which he received in 1999.

Moylan retired in July 2003 after a more than 30-year career at Ford. He is survived by his wife, Kathleen Moylan, and his children, Andrew Moylan, Elizabeth Wilson and Kara Moylan.

Although it took about a decade for the Moylan arrow to become ubiquitous, it is now an expected and beloved feature in cars of all kinds, from gas guzzlers to electric vehicles.

Hybrid cars that have a charging port and fuel filler on either side have indicators for each one.

Electric vehicles that have separate ports for slow and fast charging also indicate the location of each.