13 shutdown cases reported for Toyota Prius

Everyone seems to be missing the point, the problem isn't varying consumption rates, the problem is you have no FREAKIN idea how much fuel is in your car at any given time!!!!!

The Prius gives you the consumption rates, its easy for the car to know exactly how much fuel is passing into the engine. The problem is you don't know how much fuel you started with. The bars themselves do not represent a consistent level of fuel, as they are recalibrated each time the tank is filled. So one time a bar may mean 5 ltrs and another 6 ltrs. Having one variable is bad enough, consumption, but two is crazy.

I travel, al lot, that is why I purchased the Prius. Its not that I want to test the maximum tank value, its just that it is annoying to have to fill the car up every other day because I am afraid of running out of fuel.

I am not saying the car isn't great, but please don't fall into the trap of not being able to criticize what is an obvious, and correctable situation.

 

I am not getting the impression that people are saying that you can't criticize the gauge. What I am hearing is that most people have the idea that when you get to one or two bars, there is not much gas left.


I for one don't really see the gas gauge as a problem. When I get to one bar (or occasionally when it first starts to blink) I look for a gas station. If I only put in 9 or 10 gallons, no big deal, I know the bladder is affected by temperature. So, I just think of the tank as a 9 or 10 gallon tank (On my 2004, the tanks have ranged from 11.5 gallons to 9, but the overwhelming majority of tanks are between 9 and 10 gallons).

Knowing exactly how many miles or gallons I have before empty when I have one bar isn't important for me as long as the 1 bar means I am low fuel and should think about refilling.

 

When I first got my 04 (around Sept 1 2004), I once had the dash light up like a christmas tree, and several reboots fixed the problem. When I took the car into the dealer the first time, they first thought I needed a reflash, but then decided I didn't (VIN is JTDKB20U540111781).

Tonight, I lost power on my home street, and most everything lit up again. (red triangle, amber exclamation point, amber engine warning, VSC, red hybrid warning (also came on on the mf display). The info screen said I was running off battery/electric only. My home street is a steep uphill, and my driveway is a steep downhill - getting to the top was dicey, but fortunately it kept running to the top of the hill, but the battery was way down.

The car has NOT yet been into the dealer for service - I was looking here to see if anyone else had been seeing similar problems (I didn't know about the wsj article until tonight). That led me to Edmonds and the NHSTA (or is it c?) website, where I logged the issue also.


From looking at that site, it looks like a number of these may have happened in just the last little while. I'm suspecting there MIGHT be something to do with either temperature or the summer gas formulation that may be exposing some sort of flaw.

I tried a couple of things so far... several reboots cleared most of the lights (the amber engine warning light still lights, and the ICE started up a couple of times since, but I haven't tried to drive it yet).


I guess I'll see what the dealer has to say tomorrow, or if anyone has some advice, drop a line here on the forum... I've had my face in screens most of the day, and I'm exhausted.

(I love my Salsa #9, though - actually it's pretty cool that if the IC engine dies, you have an electric motor to take you a little ways further - certainly beats trying to run on a starter motor!

 

You're right Mike,
One bar means you are low on fuel, the question is How Low?

it is the inconsistency in "How Low" you actually are on fuel that bothers me.

even given varrying consumprtion rates I have always been able to determine how much fuel was left in the tank and how far I had left to go, usually within 5 miles of accuracy, and this is in cars that were twenty or more years old.

So my ocmplaint is the lack of knowledge about how low you actually are on fuel. The technolgy involved in this car should not have that problem.