I want to share my experience about running out of gas and would appreciate any info if any damage has been caused. Here is the story. I have had my Prius about 3 weeks. I filled up about a week ago just before going on a trip. I always leave my car with an airport valet service - they drop me off and pick me up in my own car. The tank registered full when I left - I gave the guy explicit instructions on what to do. So - had a great time in the islands... Come back and they are taking a really long time to bring my car. Finally the valet van picks me up - I figure they could n't get started - NO - they said they ran out of gas. I told them no way - I left it with a full tank of gas!! We get to my pride and joy and there it is on the side of the off ramp. Indeed it was out of gas but the mileage was correct so it hadn't been driven. I was panicing because of all the warnings I have had about not running out of gas. The car would not start at all - the battery was completely drained. We got a couple gallons of gas - it still wouldn't start. We jumped the battery and after a few minutes it did start. I drove it to the nearest gas station and filled up. Everything seems OK. My guess as to what happeed is that the dufus who left my car did not turn it off - so it ran on and off all week until the tank was empty. Then it drained the battery. It was very cold in the early part of last week and my bet is the heat was left in the on position. I want to know if I need to get checked out by a dealer? I want to figure this out before I talk to the manager at the valet service so that I know what expenses they shold pay for. (I have a lot of words for them!) Is my car OK? It seems to be running fine. Have I permanently damaged my car? I can't find anything on what kind of damage you can do if you do run it dry and run the battery all the way down. Any help / advise would be greatly appreciated.
I doesn't sound like there has been any serious damage, but it isn't healthy for the main battery to be drained below it's normal range. Maybe one of the Prius Techs can comment on this, but I believe that is one of the main reasons Toyota warns against running out of gas. I would definitely show the manager that section of the owner’s manual. I am curious though about the explanation of what happened. If the car had been left on it would have beeped at the guy and a message would have come up on the MFD when he opened the driver side door to get out. More importantly, if it had been parked and left to run, what was it doing on the side of a ramp? Is sounds more like they were driving it back to you and it ran out of gas. Since you said that the mileage wasn't higher, either the car was left running and was still on when the car was going to be returned to you, or someone siphoned almost all the gas out of the tank. .
I think the OP is correct in his conclusions. I don't believe that there is any permanent damage of real consequence. It is easy to leave the car on when you get out. I have done it twice in front of my jobsite when I sit for awhile in the car to finish a phone call and then just get out. I usually hit the power button without hitting park. If I hit park instead to sit without turning the car off, I can easily forget later to turn it off. The two times it has happened were both instances of people waiting to talk to me outside my car as soon as my phone call was over. Sure does hurt your mileage when you do that. If your mileage when you got back to your car has fallen off a cliff, then that would be the reason.
The only way I have found to lock my 2004 Prius while it is on is to use the mechanical key on the drivers door. When returning, the only way I can get back into the car is by using the mechanical key. CraigCSJ 04 Driftwood #9BC 34000 miles @ 48.2 mpg
Disclaimer: I am not a tech. ... But it sounds to me like no damage was done. However, this kind of thing is the reason I never let anyone drive my car but me, or the person who pulls it into the service stall at the Toyota dealership. There have been reported instances of valets failing to even put the car into park, and it slowly rolls into whatever is in front of it.
I interpreted that he owned the car for 3 weeks at that point, then went away for an unspecified period of time (1 week?), when he came back to a "dead" car. This is really unfortunate, and at the very least the valet service owes him a tank of gas, assuming there is no other damage to the car, which I doubt there is. As much as Toyota warns against running out of gas, a car of this technology *must* have some sort of mechanism to prevent damaging itself when something as simple as running out of gas occurs...? My guess is that the OP was correct in his theory that the car was left running and the ICE cycled on and off until it ran out of gas and shut down, but with the battery still full charge. Then when the valet started up the car to return it (surely with some warnings (?) about critically low gas), it ran in EV for a short distance until the battery drained and then died on the ramp. Just my theory, but then again, I am no technician.... Kevin
you want a tech? okay. he says if it's running fine now, the dealer won't do anything anyway. you could have them check for the "out of gas" code, however having a dead battery will make the code get lost. overall you should be fine. but this is not a situation you want to find yourself in on any kind of regular basis. the "serious damage" they refer to is killing your HV battery if it's drained too low, that's your biggest worry. yours seems to have recovered though. the valet owes you at least one tank of gas for this incident. i'd go for 2 because they also owe you some customer service credit. :angry:
i thought that the car would only run for a certain period of time when parked... then again, that might be in Acc mode...ok ya, that sounds reasonable. i have to go with the siphoning. i dont think a Prius would use a tank of gas in only a week. just sitting there, nothing running but the onboard computer system... full tank of gas. even if driving the car, you would have to commute 70 miles a day to use a full tank of gas in a week....parked??? no way. very very hard to believe it burned up the gas that fast. actually that is the "nice" scenario. i have to think that some joyriding was involved. you say the mileage checked out and you are absolutely sure of that?
I'd say the valet heard the beep and ignored it. And they probably didn't lock the car either. I'd say they gave you a song and dance about knowing how to drive it, ignored your instructions because it hurt their pride for an owner to tell them their job, then when the found out they didn't know how to shut it off, lock it, etc, they just left it. Probably with the fob still in the car. I'm with galaxee. They owe you two tanks of gas. But good luck getting them to pay for even one. I'd still take it to the service department and ask them to write it up and what happened. You want it on the record that this happened in case anything in the future comes back to haunt you. I'd also forget airport valet parking. Call a cab or other shuttle service to take you to the airport and leave your car at home or in a self-park long term parking service somewhere else.
Who would have done the siphoning, the valet? Why piss off a customer and risk prosecution for 10 gallons of gas? (If it was not the valet the gas cover would have visible damage from having been pried open, and there was no mention of this.) No, I like the left-running theory. No need to invoke malice when ignorance or stupidity suffice.
Thanks everyone for the great replies. To clarify - I have owned the car for 3 weeks - went on vacation for 1 week. The valet ran out of gas while returning to the airport to pick me up. I hadn't thought of siphoning but I kind of doubt it. I have used this service many years without incident. They park your car in a locked lot. They also mark the amount of gas and mileage. The mileage was only the difference of a few miles - enough to get to and from the airport. They had marked the gas tank as full - they have that recorded. What really makes me mad is that the guy picking me up saw that the tank was really low and yet still drove it. I would have preffered him to pick me up in the van and tell me that my tank was empty. I already got a tank of gas from them and a discount. I am expecting them to reimburse me for the whole stay. I still think that the car was left on with the key in the car. (Because it is a locked lot I bet they leave the keys in the car.) It sat through that major snow storm the east coast got over the weekend - and the heat was on. I am betting that it just kept starting the gas engine to keep the car warm until it ran out of gas. Sarge I think you are right that the driver rode on EV only until that died as well. Glad to hear that my car likely hasn't suffered any long term damage. No - I will not be using a valet service again. Thanks again everyone - great forum.
Here is my 10 cents. If the car is left on and the heat is on at a comfortable level, it will run a lot to maintain the temperature. If the overnights were cold enough, it is conceivable that the ICE ran a lot overnight to maintain 68 or 70 or whatever temperature you had the auto climate set to. I neither have the inclination or technical expertise to actually calculate an estimate of the fuel usage in an idle mode such as you car probably experienced to back up my gut feeling that you car was just left on in the lot after you left it with the parking lot staff. In business documentation, like documenting the fuel level when coming in and the mileage, is designed to protect the business from unscrupulous customers who will come back and claim employee joy riding or siphoning. However in this instance, their documentation of fuel level and mileage puts the responsibility all in their court, which is totally appropriate and fair. This is an opportunity to not only get reimbursed for gas (a discount is not enough), but probably a reimbursement of the cost of storage or future free storage. However, if this is a larger organization their mishandling of your vehicle might not reach the top of the organization, which is where it needs to go. It doesn't need to reach the top out of spite, but it needs to get up there so they can address this issue, and this car and get their employees educated about handling this vehicle. I do not believe that anything bad happened to your car. And I'm convinced that the HV battery is not an issue. The onboard logic protects the HV battery at all costs. The vehicle will not allow the HV battery to be drained beyond the lower limit prescribed by the onboard systems. As an additional thought, since it appears that they might have drained down the 12v battery somehow you should get a dealer to check to see that the 12v battery is operating inside normal tolerances and that it has not been damaged by being over-drained. If it is no longer in prime condition, it should be replaced at the expense of the parking lot.
Even taking it to have it serviced can be dangerous. I had to have my rear bumper replaced because somehow it got crunched at the dealer. Fortunately, when I pointed out the damage, they installed a new bumper without hesitation.
Your average mpg should easily tell you whether or not it was siphoned. If your mpg didn't suffer, the gas must have gone out a different way than through the engine. Of course, this depends on you noticing it before the reset.
Lots of machines with ICE's have devices that log the number of running hours. Is it possible that the Prius keeps track of the hours of operation? If so, it ought to give some significant evidence that the ICE was running all that time. It might even date the hours of operation in some way. Does anyone know if this kind of data is kept somewhere on board? storm petrol
Personally i think there must be some damage.... I don't think Toyota designed the car to be parked running still until the fuel is out. And i would think especially with a car that hasn't broken in, some long term damage may occur... I'll pay extra attention if i need to give out the car to be parked....
I favor the left the car running then ran it in EV till the battery was in danger and the car cut off to protect itself. As this happened on the way back likelihood of damage is no higher than other out of gas situations. Having the heat on makes it plausible for a climate like Pennsylvania. Just another reason not to trust Valet parking. When asked if they can drive the car their answer is always yes and they never look at the attached Valet card. A car is a car? Right?
