When filling up gas in a car why does the first notch at full take the longest to go down, then all subsequent notches go faster?

Question

When filling up gas in a car why does the first notch at full take the longest to go down, then all subsequent notches go faster?

In: 0

Answer 1

Because it’s too expensive to make a full-range linear volume gauge, especially considering the irregular shape of most gas tanks. This is so difficult that even expensive airplanes don’t do it. They rely on flow meters instead. In fact, I recall the old rule on gas gauges in light aircraft basically gives up entirely on this issue – it only required that the gauge read empty if the tank is empty. I.e. It would have been acceptable to cover The gauge with a card reading “empty”.