Ran out of fuel AND battery!!

Some of the places I drive, that would be no gas stations:
(Sorry, similar other pics in album not currently working, one is 163 miles to next gas).

Fuel planning should begin long before that last pip starts blinking.

 

Agreed, but that wasn't my statement. My statement addressed the fact that the guy had no notice that his car was on empty...

 

There is a design flaw in the low fuel warning system.

The beep is too low in tone. It is too short in duration. It needs to be a little obtrusive.

Toyota could save lives by a better design.

Too many Hybrid owners think they can drive on the battery after exhausting the fuel.

Prius C may get 2 miles on battery after fuel exhaustion. Market mentality of hybrids incorrectly allows owner to think more.

Hybrid = Fuel or Electric - operators may think 50 50. Wrong thinking !!

TRUTH Prius C is a primarily GASOLINE engine vehicle with electric battery augmentation. I like the system.

Take a small post it note - " Refuel at three Bars " Place on screen.

Out of Gas on side of road is Deadly. Stay Alive.

 

do you realize how many senior citizens have died because the couldn't hear the beep or see the flashing pip? what?

 

Over the top.
Just driving a car is deadly.........IF you are a total moron.

 

Do you live hundereds of miles from a gas station?

 

Do you realize how many senior citizens have died after mistaking the GO pedal for the STOP pedal?

 

Do you realize how many senior citizens have no problem reading a fuel gauge and filling the tank? My guess is vastly more than not. More knucklehead youths run out of gas than seasoned adults would be my next guess.

Not that there is anything wrong with being young or old - just inattentive.

 

i think more people are kileed from cars crashing through storefronts due to gas instead of brake, than the people inside the cars. and they are usually seniors.

 

I would never wish to be kileed OR a fatality as a result of someone's carelessness or incompetence. It could ruin my day.

Interestingly, drivers aged 75 to 84 die at the same rate as teenage drivers. Older than that, and they quadruple that death rate.

Older, dangerous drivers a growing problem - USATODAY.com

So, yes, some seniors are dangerous drivers. So are some teenagers and drunks. All but the drunks should still be able to read a gas gauge and avoid running out of gas. And for the rest of us, a drunk running out of gas would usually be a good thing.

 

Not to have that problem , when mine goes to two pips , I'll fill up , no trophy given for running out of gas

 

i fill up when the it beeps and the last pip starts blinking. it's only 8 galleons. unless i don't hear the beep, or forget before i get to a petrol store.

 

When comparing different age groups, beware that driver death rates are not a good proxy for driver crash rates. Older people are much more fragile, thus much more likely to die, from any particular physical trauma. Thus, if 75-84 year old drivers are dieing at the same rate as teen drivers, they are actually involved in substantially fewer serious crashes than those teens.

In recent years I've seen a few other reports start to take this into account. Other measures, such as crash rates, property damage, and non-occupant injury and death rates, are more meaningful when assessing the risks to others in the community.

 

good point, i hadn't thought of that. i've seen a few teens survive being tossed from a car. oldsters probably wouldn't make it. but the difference between survival and death is difficult to quantify as well.

 

There was an elderly couple in an accident near our (previous) place, maybe 30 years back. Their car ended up on edge, so pretty serious. A bunch of guys righted it, even before anyone official got there. Not sure exactly how they fared, but seemed like they were gonna be ok.

A few weeks later, reading in the paper, and I'm not sure but I believe it was them: one or both died in hospital, and there was inquiry going on alleging negligence and errors by the staff.

Youngsters would maybe get out and about sooner.

 

Maybe it's just mine (Prius c) but I was driving down to Baltimore and forgot (absent minded) to fill up before hand ... Usually do ... All of piled in . Radio going but not too loud... Missed the ONE SINGLE. Beep . My friend happens to see the flaging pip . And said I was low ... Punch it to info screen say 0 remains... So take the exit and pull in ... Interesting enough when I turned in and gave it a little gas I didn't hear the engine kick in so maybe it was bat only ... Filled up fine ... BUT!!!! Why FFS did it beep only One single time... <( I know it does because I seen it flip the beep with remain at 10 miles) and one at 0 for like 10 miles before the beep >(had 30 or 60 also) Yes I tested this multiple times... The beep is one single time (the second it hits ) power off and on no beep again. (Only the bar) My late 97 explorer was smart enough to keep beeping for the absent minded person to go look to see which idiot light as lit (fuel ) did this for any indicator. And usually it only took the second beep for most to realize what was wrong .(usually the idiot light was enough, second because you didn't hear the first beep) .. that's a design flaw ... Hell the explorer I think kept beeping when it got lower till you filled it ...



(Havent seen if it does the same for the other warnings "e.g. Faults. Bat issue. Overheat etc).... The DTE is meaningless!.. I seen it seem to mean cruising distance or seem to try to say actual. When I got it it would say zero when the first bar hit or even before . Thus is before the beep. And a good 30 miles... Now it's all at the same time.. Car has a mind of its own.

 

No idea or sympathy for why people would run their car (any sort of car for that matter of fact) out of gas. You have people that say maybe the elderly can't read the gauge...well might be time for them to retire their licenses as well (I wouldn't want to drive around with others that can't even see their gauges). Then you also have the ones that blame the car for only beeping once or not loud enough...I say "DON'T YOU HAVE EYES???" to check the gauge anyway??? or do people nowadays just drive around on a empty head of air and stare constantly ahead without a care for anything else in the world?

Anyways, I get it if the car doesn't have gauges to read from, but dayem...some people really are running on darwinism, when they complain the car doesn't beep loud/long enough or more

 

We disagree:

I have run out of gas in our NHW11 nearly 40 times and our ZVW30 at least 6 times. The NHW11 was part of my gasoline studies and the ZVW30 to find out how the car responded to an out-of-gas situation. So I have no fear nor terror.

Running out of gas happens. Deal with it. Be part of the solution or you are part of the problem.

Bob Wilson

 

Studies and testing aside. This is an example of not paying attention to your surroundings. Active monitoring applies here. How would you like your airline pilot to run out of fuel and say, "why didn't the plane give me a better warning, I thought I could go another 100 miles". We must plan for 45 minutes fuel remaining at landing.

Checking the fuel quantity should be done every trip. I fill mine at about half tank. I want to be ready to bug out fast in an emergency with no fear of running out of fuel.

I enjoy fuel stops. It's right on my way home from work.