No low fuel light in Prius

If you refill at 2 pips, you will NEVER run out of gas again!!!
It's always worked for me!

 

Here is how the Prius warns you that gas level is low.

1. there is a gas gauge
2. last pip blinks
3. the estimated distance to empty (DTE) counts down to zero
4. finally, there is an audible warning when fuel is low

The gas gauge is all I need to tell me when fuel is low.

 

Sounds like you kept going on battery only for a while. That can also be a very expensive lesson of something to avoid. If this happens again STOP THE CAR when the battery level is at 2 bars.

I don't mean to put salt in your wounds, but the flashing pip = low fuel

 

Some of us got along for decades without a low fuel light. I'm not sure which car I owned had that first low fuel light.
Not the 33 Plymouth, or the 37 Dodge pickup, or the 49 Ford, probably not the 53 Chevy, maybe it was the 63 Dodge Dart or the 78 Plymouth, or the 76 Honda. I suspect the 86 Golf had one or maybe it was the 92 Saturn. The first time I ran out of gas was with a brand new 94 Toyota Pickup, I mean really brand new, the dealer didn't fill the tank. I couldn't even make it to the gas station on the way to work the next morning.

 

Refueling stations are hard to come by in the sky. Lucky for us ground dwellers there is usually no good reason to push the fuel tank to empty.

OCD types who just have to know how much fuel remains and can do a little mental arithmetic only need know that the tank holds 11.9 Gallons (US) when full, and the MPG meter is about 5% optimistic. Reset your trip gauge when you fill up. That is what I do

Well, actually I presume the tank holds 11 gallons and the MPG meter is accurate. That combo underestimates distance per tank by 2.7%, a safety factor I am fine with since it covers about 97% of tanks based on a SD of 1.22%.

 

So what kind of MPG have you mustered?

 

While inaccurate, that gauge is mighty precise, and have a lot of safety built in.
Wow I thought a commercial pilot would be taught to err much on the safe side than to rely on the accuracy of a gauge. What do I know, I am just an engineer.

 

I kept track of some 25 consecutive tanks in my Lexus CTh -- a Prius twin:
Average error is 5.02%, SD is 1.22%

 

Conditions were ideal in SF. I just read the pilots requested a go-around, before the crash. Maybe they screwed up and went below the stall speed? Would the aircraft even allow you to get it close to stall speed at any altitude? BTW is landing equipment assisted on a 777 or manual?

 

when you're down to two pips, you have around 4 gallons left. 30 lbs? you'll never notice the mpg difference.tenths of a gallon i bet. fill it up and refill at two pips. all the best!

 

As a side note, a while back I was reading the investigations on the KAL Flight 007 that was shot down by the Russians. The author made a comment that in the Korean culture, it would be rude for the First Officer to speak up and challenge the error of the Captain. They speculate that was why both seasoned pilots manage to let it go off course. I wonder if this was the case yesterday in SF???

 

Less

The rule of thumb from my hybrid engineering handbook states that if weight drops X percent, fuel economy increases by X/2.

If 30# is called 1% and the tank 10 gallons, then 30 pounds less weight saves .05 gallons -- or about a 2 miles gain.

 

Here's my handy-dandy PIP chart:

 

you can make that up with a little p&g and lighter clothing.

 

don't feel bad, i ran my 08 out after hearing the beep a few days before. told myself to get gas and then proceeded to forget all about it. never noticed the flashing pip after that. had to wak two miles home in flipflops in the pouring rain, got home at 10 pm, left the car on the side of the road and called the police to tell them i would call aaa in the morning.