New Prius V - out of gas - need clarification please

You're "pissed" and you "hate your Prius" because you ran out of gas?

Seriously?

Sell it now and go buy a Malibu. That will definitely solve all your problems.

 

You didn't know the last bar of the fuel indicator flashes when the gas gets low?

 

That must have been one hell of a long phone call for you not to notice that you were running low on fuel!!!

Easy to blame someone else but come on get real. You'll probably look back and laugh at the situation once you've calmed down.

 

I don't think I've gotten low on fuel in the 2010 yet, but in the 2006 I definitely got a warning. After the gas gauge has been down to one pip for a while, you will hear a pretty loud beep, there will be a message on the display, and the one pip will start flashing. I'm pretty sure it will still keep going for another 10 miles after that.

Something is wrong with your car if you didn't get these warnings long before you ran out of gas.

 

It really could be that the car didn't give the warnings that is supposed to. That beep is pretty loud and hard to miss. And can either of you explain why the car wouldn't start after adding two gallons of gas?

 

Suggest you read the manual on any new car you buy, as there are always slight differences. Plus the newer cars have different electronics and warnings for various things that older cars did not have.

But blaming Toyota for your operator error, all cars have a gas gauge, when the gauge starts blinking and there is a beep too, i would have thought you might wonder what the heck was up and noticed it was on empty or at least wondered about the beep.

On the phone when you should have been paying better attention to your driving maybe. Probably why you may not have heard the beep warning of low fuel.

My advice if you don't like the Prius take the financial hit and buy something else, but watch the gas gauge on whatever you buy because it will run out too if you are not paying attention. Running out of gas is never a good idea and yes the car can suffer damage and on occasion require dealer intervention from it, and not just the Prius.

Your trying to restart and drive the car on empty is probably why you had to have it towed. Others on this forum have run their Prius out of gas and were able to add fuel and restart the car. Do a search if you are interisted.

 

You never ran out of gas in a Chevy and yet you managed to run out of gas in a Prius that will go 100 miles after it hits empty???

 

I would have to add you to the list of people these days buying new cars, not taking the time to understand how to operate their cars and then blaming the car manufacturers for their problems. Toyota certainly does not need your help right now. Take the advice above, sell the car and buy a GM.

 

Take it easy guys. Instead of bashing her you could show a little empathy for what she went through. Yes she made the mistake of running out of gas but the bottom line is that it did not start after gas was added. She was out of commission for hours and had to have it towed to the dealer just to get it running again. If you lost track of time and ran out of fuel on the highway and had to go through all this to get up and running again you would be upset too.

This happened to me with a GM car I had in my teens where I ran out of gas and burned out the fuel pump. I had to have it towed and the fuel pump replaced. Until now I did not know that running out of gas on the Prius would require a tow. I am curious if this is normal or an isolated case.

 

1) Prius is a car which requires an new approach but which as all the other ones always needs a minimum of gasoline in its tank
2) read the owner manual ( the first thing to do !) to know how the car says she wants some drink.

You remember me my father in law : he'd never red a owner manual, he'd never known what all the buttons in the car was for. When the windshield was filled with mist he shouted with his wife “do something, I'm driving !”

What surprises me more it is that you seem to return Toyota responsible of this fact.

Now, keep your Prius, take time to love her !

 

I think you've had enough bashing from other Prius owners already. I feel for you. Yes it is supposedly not hard to miss the entire fuel guage, but I do want to add that the warning sign on the Prius are less than adequate. When it is low on fule it first beeps but as we know a lot of things beeps.

I read the manual plenty of times, but when I enountered the low on fuel (I wanted to see it and hear it by experiment) and I truely didn't know what the heck the car was doing when it was making the sound. At first I thought I didn't close the door properly when I started the car only later when I looked harder I realiased my fuel meter was blinking. By the way the fuel warning sound only beeped once and that can be missed or misinterpret for something else. As for the blinking Fuel guage itself, I don't look at it all the time because I use the heads up display on the windscreen most of the time I am driving. So for the little blinking light doesn't really catch anyones attention it can be missed of forgotten.

So far I can understand why she is upset, yes , it is her fault, but it can be easily forgotten once you put your mind into doing something else.

But to say get upset or so pissed off because of this it is really a bit over the top because eventhough the warning are not as intrusive as your ex GM cars but it is there nonetheless. To be on the phone (not advised) and the consequence is to miss the warning light no matter how small is not anyones fault but yours. If thats the case you can't really be that upset for anyone or thing but yourself.

 

Just like so many in our country, it's is always someone else's fault. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

 

" I just bought a thirty thousand dollar car and ran it out of gas and now I'm mad at the manufacturer and the dealer and I don't like my car anymore"

You don't need a dealer, you need a valet.

"Oh, the ashtray is full, time to buy a new car."

Yeah, that too.

Seriously, given the way the "problem" was stated, what other response is indicated? Grow up and take some responsibility.

 

I think the poster realises it was their mistake to run out, but they weren't expecting to have to get towed away despite adding fuel. I think they thought they could add some fuel, switch on and set off again. Unfortunately that wasn't the case.

Perhaps this could be a warning to us all!

 

Yes I agree, I don't think she was upset with the fact the car was out of petrol(gas) and she didn't blame anyone for that (well she was upse with the lack of indication), but I think she was more upset with the fact the car needs to be towed just because it ran out of gas. I don't think I would like that to happen to me, and I would like to know why should we get towed just because we ran out of gas?

 

Wow- what a complete lack of empathy from many Prius Chat owners. Way to welcome a new member..

My wife and I had never run out of gas in any car, either. A while back she ran out of fuel due to the dismal cold weather fuel economy and the resulting inaccurate miles remaining indicator. I posted about it here-

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...s-zapped-my-mileage-44mpg-68.html#post1046448

So, yeah, the new Prius may have an issue with starting after it runs out of fuel. You know, people make mistakes. You can run out of gas. Sure, it's your own fault. That doesn't excuse Toyota for making it a pain in the nice person to get your car going again.

 

Great! .... the media will have another feeding frenzy ... the State AG will open an investigation .... the lawyers will be elated that they have a new class-action suit. Toyota mis-led the public, is the Prius safe?

New Priuschat threads: Would you buy another Prius? Do you have any regrets?

I can feel sympathy ... I routinely run out of gas in my lawn mower ... leaving me stranded many steps away from the Garage and the gas can. But then, it does not have a gauge.

Or, maybe it's the fault of telephone company .... or the state legislature for not passing laws about telephoning while driving. Could be a whole myriad of faults .... .

Seriously ... I am grateful you were not injured by teh experience. I bet you will never run out of gas again.

 

Going to go off at a tangent here but the new diesels that are coming to your shores can have issues restarting after you've run out of fuel in them! I remember having to have my system bled after I'd run out in my Peugeot HDi.

A good old petrol/gas car is so easy to restart after running to empty, but it would appear that's not the case with a hybrid or a diesel.

 

I think in the interest of addressing the intial concern, which was, "Is it normal behavior do have the car towed if it runs out of gas?", one should look at the multiple codes that were generated. You might not have run out of gas, but something else happened.

Also, some real facts, like how much gas did it take to fill the tank ? How many miles were on the tank when you ran out ? What was you mpg when you ran out ?

I think the OP knows running out of gas is not a recommended practice, but is concerned that in the improbable but possible second time this happens, what will happen.

I personally have tried not to go below two pips, and generally (still new at this) fill ups are 6-7 gallons, which are 300-400 miles per tank. I have found that getting a fill up before it is desperately needed is much easier than dealing with the anguish of trying to limp to some unknown location hoping for gas. I have had cars were neither gas gauge nor odometer worked, so knowing when to stop for gas becomes more of an art than science.