How much before empty

when the last bar starts to blink, you have about 2 gallons. but don't push it, prius does not like running dry.

 

I'm pretty sure the car shuts off with 1 gal left.

 

Definitely don't push it. It's fairly easy to determine how much you have left though...
Reset your trip odometer with each fill up and watch the mpg. Then subtract 2 mpg (5%-ish) for your real-world at-the-pump number. Then you can multiply that by 10 (gallons). To me, that's safe range because the tank is larger, you'll have some left over.
I've found over the last year that the last LED blinks at about 25 miles DTE on my 2012. I've been able to take that 0 and then get 50 more miles before filling up, only to find that the car would take less than 10 gallons!
Search the forum and you'll see a few other threads on this topic with some tips and good info. Good luck

 

My experience is drive until the last LED blinks. Go to another trip reset it for your speedometer. Track your MPGs because this matter. Someone has said that there is about 2 gallons left and I believe someone had made it to 100 miles before running the car dry (but they were over 50 mpg). I usually go about 80% the current mpg displayed, ie if it's 52 mpg I'm getting, I almost go to 40 mpg until I fill up. I usually hit 10 gallons exactly but there is supposedly 11.9...Don't push it though

Even though the display says 0 miles left, you do have more, depends how you drive!
I've gotten to 500 miles overall trip many times when I average over 50 mpg.

 

My last fill up due to unforeseen circumstances ended up with me filling 10.993 gallons of fuel.

Travis

 

Wow. Did you get the blinking red gas bar? What was your mpg?

 

Is there a red blinking bar now? My experience is with the 2010 so I guess later Prii might be different. Don't follow my advice if you have a 2011+

 

No blinking red bar. Just the same blinking final pip with a single beep upon vehicle start up.

50.9 hand calculated actual mpg.

 

When I test drove my '12 the final bar was flashing red, I guess the Prius version of the low fuel light. The dealer said not to worry, it was ok. We rode a few miles and the next day I bought it with a full tank. Wish I knew how much it took. Don't care to see that light again!

 

With our 2010, the fuel indicator begins flashing with about 2.1 gallons remaining. However, this is likely to vary with individual Prius.

When the car finally runs out of gas, there is no indication EXCEPT the arrows on the power-flow display go away. The car silently switches to traction battery power until the traction battery charge gets too low; all traction power is lost (the car is a rolling, inertial mass), and; it sets a false "power steering" indicator.

If you catch the car when the last of the gas is burned, you have about a mile worth of traction battery energy to find a safe place to park. Add one gallon of gas and drive to a gas station.

Earlier Prius would set an internal code blocking more attempts to start if more than three failed starts were attempted. Others report disconnecting the ground, a power-on Reset, will clear the condition but you don't really want to do that on the side of the road.

Bob Wilson

 

Basically, don't run out of gas lol. However, it's hard to say if they fixed the indicator above the 2010 versions? You'll have to test it on each fill up. Stretch your limit (not too much) and realize it's a 11.9 gallon tank - but should only take into consideration of 11 gallons.

 

As others have said, I too agree that when the "miles to pump" number hits zero (the first time I saw this I freaked) you still have roughly 2 gallons left in the tank.

I refill my tank when the final pip begins blinking. I almost always get the beep with 20 miles to go on the "miles to pump" screen in my 2010.

 

Keyword though is 2010. I believe later Prii will have a red bar, slightly different metrics etc. Maybe the red bar signifies you actually have 1 gallon left, I don't know. 2010 seems consistent that with the first blink you have 2 gallons left, NOT when it hit 0s. I recon you have 1.5 gallons left when you hit 0.

This has been tested by a person on this forum (search for it). The person ran out of gas like 3 times, noted the MPG at the blink, done lots of tests.

What a great forum.

 

I think Toyota should add another Vehicle Proximity Notification speaker inside the cabin that announces when you are down to one pip. Then we can avoid having yet another "how low can you go" thread.

Yeah, I know, wishful thinking.

 

Where's your source of information for this? I've never read anything like that on the boards and it doesn't align with any of my observations with my 2010.

Assuming you had a complete fill up on your previous visit to the gas station, you should be able to drive 10x the displayed fuel mileage and have used, approximately, 10.5 gallons of gas.

For example, lets say your computer displayed MPG is reading 50.7 mpg. At 507 miles you pull into the gas station and fill up. Likely it will take 10.5 (+/- 0.2) gallons of gas. You will still have ~ 1.4 gallons left in the tank. Your last PIP will have been flashing for awhile, and your Distance to Empty (Range remaining) will be at 0, and will have been at zero for awhile. This I've seen with my car several times and I've verified it with the 600 mile and 700 mile club posts.

 

I agree with what most of you are saying, I have had this happen to me also, even though I drove 20+miles on flashing I only put in 9+ gallons on fill up. Was sweating bullets though..... my first time.