Please report your safety related problem to NHTSA !!!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rick Auricchio @ Aug 5 2006, 11:37 PM) [snapback]298366[/snapback]</div>

well, he didnt get his prius yet, so Wth is he annoyed about? lol.

 

My take on this issue is to ask this question:

Is the safety issue due to the car or the driver?

You only have one guess which side I am on.

 

If anyone's going to run around "enlightening" people about anything,
it should be about how to recalibrate their inclination sensors.
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There, there's a nice little pre-delivery research project for you.
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_H*

 

You should all be ashamed of yourselves. I own an 05 prius and can relate to the initial concern in this post. I for one am glad to see someone who cares enough to offer up “realistic†suggestions on how to deal with the problems associated with the fuel gauge. I did not know about the NHSTA, but I’m glad I do now. Not only have I experienced the finicky fuel gauge, which as a result I used to be very careful about, but TOTALLY disagree with those of you suggesting that it does not pose a safety hazard. I’m so happy that most of you here have not run out of gas on 2 bars. Well, guess what? I have and it’s not an enjoyable experience. Sure, I know, you’re all saying “well stupid, how is that a safety issue?†Maybe if you knew someone who ran out of gas on the highway and was injured in an accident you’d think differently. My cousin was rear ended by a truck in the 2nd lane of a 4 lane highway cause she couldn’t get over in time. She was almost paralyzed as a result of her injuries. No, she wasn’t driving a prius, but what does that matter? Based on her circumstances it could have just as well been a prius as far as I’m concerned. When I took my 05 to the dealer for a tune-up and to address the inaccuracy of the fuel gauge they did their best to convince me that it was anything but a problem with the car. As nicely as they could, they tried to blame my driving habits, and not knowing the idiosyncrasies of this type of car on my claims of a faulty fuel gauge. Funny how my fuel gauge’s accuracy is near perfect since driving out of the dealership the same day. The bottom line is if you suspect you’re having a problem with your fuel gauge, take it to your dealership and have them check it out. After reading several posts on this blog I am convinced of the fact that many of the prius gauges out there are probably not functioning properly and can be corrected at the dealership. This is “most definitely†a safety issue and should be addressed. If anything, reading most of these posts here only prove that you don’t have to be an intelligent and caring person to own a prius. And for those of you who wish to challenge “my†post, think twice before embarrassing yourselves.

 

The only way I can see it being considered a safety issue is if you run out of gas in nowhere land... it's 115/-40 outside... No wait... how can any Car Co be held responsible for the actions of an idiot that would be out in nowhere land with less than 1/4 tank.. and if you do... can I have your car...

any fool knows if you have a problem at 1/2 tank... or what you think is 1/2 left... it gets taken in to the dealer and the fuel gruage get cal'ed. end of story... this is not an issue for the NHTSA...

I have had my Prius from Nov 13 2003 (pri 04) and have a feel when the tank is getting low... I have 450 miles on this tank... been doing 70+ mph... I had better start looking for a fueling station... very soon blinking or not..

end of story.... bottom line not a SAFETY issue cars have been running out of gas because of "Guess Guages" from the 1920 on... The VW Bus does not even have a gas guage that I remember... never seen a recall yet.

 

this is a classic case of making a mountain out of a molehill.

99.9999% of running-out-of-gas incidents are caused by a defect in the nut behind the wheel... and the nhtsa has not yet figured out how to get automakers to fix that issue (that was supposed to be funny, now don't go calling me insensitive and stupid like mimi here just called all of us)

most of the remaining cases are due to the inclinometer being off. every kind of vehicle has some gas gauge quirks, it's not just the prius.

all vehicles have a nonlinear gas gauge. they take longer to drop from full than they do to drop the last bit to empty. big deal. at least the prius gives you some power to take yourself off the road when the car tells you it's out of gas and you decide you should have another 90 miles left.

 

My wife used to fly aerobatic planes (1/2 owner of one). Running out of gas in a plane is bad (ghostbuster's bad). Pilots don't try to see how close they can come to empty unless they have a death wish and like being in a rock with wings.
We both ride motorcycles, neither of which has a gas guage. We know how much the tank holds, and how many miles we can get with typical driving habits. We always build in a "buffer zone"; for example, if I know I can get 160 miles on my tank, I'm going to be looking to gas up when it hits 120-125 miles. If I don't and I run out of gas, it's still not a safety issue, it's a common sense issue.

 

Foolish of me to think I could have made any sense to those with such narrow minds. Oh well, I should have known. Don’t worry, I’ll try to remember that you can’t make sense to those with no sense. How unfortunate. This does beg the question though: Were you all born senseless or do you just practice really hard? I’m guessing the latter.

 

There are a lot of people here telling you this is not an issue for the NHSTA.

But if it makes you feel better, report Toyota. Tell the NHSTA your gas gauge was off and the dealer fixed it but you think it's a safety issue and want to report Toyota and that all of the Prii should be recalled.

Please report their response here.

 

Generally people who set up a forum account for the purpose of jumping
down peoples' throats are regarded as trolls. But it's the attitude
apparently driving it in this case that's the reason nobody ever
wins these conflicts except the lawyers.
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Not the victims you're looking for. Move on.
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_H*

 

Beware of anyone who's join date is the same day as their posts, especially when their first post starts out with "You should all be ashamed of yourselves." Sheesh! We don't need nannies.

As I understand it, the complaint is that a Prius will run out of gas somewhere between 30 and 50 miles after the fuel gauge starts to flash. Hmmm... Perhaps we need more warning stickers, and another screen that pops up when you start the car that alerts the driver to the fact that driving the car while the gauge reads empty may strand you. Press here to agree.

Thanks for the scolding. Nanny filter activated

 

I ran out of fuel once. I was hoping to get over 50 miles after the 'add fuel' alert, to show off to a friend that the car could go from Albuquerque to El Paso and back on one tank. Missed it by about 20 miles.

BLOODY car !!

Since then, I just appease the beast, and put in fuel when it asks.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Aug 5 2006, 08:50 PM) [snapback]298524[/snapback]</div>

Just a point of accuracy since I'm annoying that way.
Not all vehicles have a gas gauge - and in a car that uses electricity, the fuel gages is 100% linear. But I digress...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(darelldd @ Aug 6 2006, 12:04 PM) [snapback]298612[/snapback]</div>

you're such a snot, darell... <_<


<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mimi47 @ Aug 6 2006, 12:42 AM) [snapback]298541[/snapback]</div>

wow, it appears we have been graced with someone so far superior to us that she can't so much as TYPE at us without looking down her nose.

shall we bow, or simply fall to our knees in your vast wisdom far beyond us senseless clods (some with quite distinguished degrees, may i add, which kinda kills you argument that we're stupid) who have driven these cars for years (unlike the OP who doesn't even have one yet) or who, you know, fix these cars for a living?

get over yourself. please.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Vegemann @ Aug 6 2006, 08:43 AM) [snapback]298609[/snapback]</div>

There is no need for help because there is no problem.

In 23 months and 23,000 miles I have never run out of gas. With two exceptions, I have always waited for the "Add Fuel" warning before I filled up the car.

If you don't trust the gauge it is easy to estimate how much gasoline you have used since you last refueled the car by dividing the miles driven by the average MPG for that tank.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius @ Aug 6 2006, 11:48 AM) [snapback]298632[/snapback]</div>

In 71 months and 118,000 miles, I have never run out of gas either.

But then again, I hear reports each winter of people freezing to death from running out of gas using non-hybrids. Why in the world would you ever take that kind of chance? Shouldn't filling back up once you've consumed 3/4 of the tank be enough for a hybrid? That's still a distance further than what a traditional vehicle typically offered.

 

This reminds me of the brake thread that wouldn't die. Several people with less than 1k miles of Prius driving wanted a TSB.