Cars carry dozens of small markings and features that drivers look at every day without registering them. Most are there because of how the car is built or because a regulation asks for them, and very few are decorative, even when they look it.
The oddities in this section explain what those details do: how a windshield is bonded to the body, how a dashboard tells you which side to pull up to the pump, and why a pattern that looks like styling is really a manufacturing decision. Where a detail varies between makers or countries, the article says so.
Cars
The small arrow or triangle beside the fuel pump icon points to the side of the car where the fuel door is. If it points left, the filler is on the left; if it points right, it is on the right. Ignore which side the pump's hose is drawn on: only the arrow is meant to show the side.
Cars
The black dots are the edge of the frit, a black ceramic enamel fused onto the windshield when it is heated and bent. The solid band hides the polyurethane glue holding the glass in and shields it from UV light. The shrinking dots soften the jump from black to clear, so the hotter band doesn't distort the glass.
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