I DO NOT RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING:

I was on my first tank of gas. For some reason I thought I could make 500 miles on a tank (as I was averaging 50 MPG and I thought the tank capacity I had nearly 11 gallons of fuel)

Well I was just about to 500 miles (498 in fact) already to brag that I can fill-up the car every 500 miles when the "battery dischraeg" light came on.

Well I ran out of gasoline 3 miles from the nearest gas station.

I put my hazards on, not knowing what was going to happen, and the nice New Jersey drivers behind me patiently let me slow down to 55 MPH in the slwo lane.

The ICE turned off and I drove the rest of the way (almost 3 miles) on the battery. By the time I reached the gas station with two bars left on the battery meter.

THREE MILES dricing/coasting without gasoline. Try that without a hybrid!

Afterwards it took me 15 minutes to recharge the battery to 80%. Drove down a hill to top it off to 100%.

Today I fuel up every 400 miles...

 

I ran my Prius out, once, sort-of on purpose. When the low fuel notice went on, I made it 66.5 miles. I use that as my guide.

 

I think I'll have to try that Low Fuel notice thing. I gas up when I'm at the 10% mark, and last time I'd only used 7.5 gallons. That's kinda annoying when you're trying to do 500 or 600 miles on a tank...

 

The low fuel warning goes off well into into the 10% mark. If you fill up as soon as you get down to one block, you'll never see it.

 

When I gas up the amount I can put in varies because of the peculiar design of the tank (I think its a bladder). Anyway, I always fill up when I get down to one bar. When I fill, I let the pump automatically shut off, then I do a little manipulation of the hose sleeve thingy on the pump, like I do when I fill my motor scooter tank (I have to pull on the sleeve to get it to discharge fuel). I can usually get about a half gallon extra this way without accidentally overfilling, which I did once and which resulted in gasoline spewing out of the tank like a busted artery. I almost always achieve about 500 miles per tank, plus or minus a few miles. Also I notice that when I fill at one bar, I usually can put about 9 to 9.5 gallons in, but not more than that.

 

Okay, I think I ran out of gas over the weekend. I was asleep in the passenger seat while my copilot was driving us back from Canada to Portland, 9 hours. I woke up just in time to see a low fuel warning pop up on the main display. My driver said we were just on one bar adn he thought we just went from two to one. I said no problem because the next gas would be 20 miles and we would be fine.

We weren't. Cruising at 65 down the Interstate the car upper dash lit up with warning lights galore and the gas pedal stopped working. The specific lights were the large exclamation point in a triangle followed by the (!) light and the VSC light and the image of the engine. We coasted about half a mile down an exit ramp and turned off the car entirely while I frantically read about all of the lights.

All of them translated to some version of "you are doomed." I nearly had a breakdown because not a single one of the warnign lights said, out of fuel. It just happened to be that the additional description of the little engine light said it will illuminate when you are out of fuel. Taking a gamble, we restarted the system tried to drive on just electric and drove slowly one more mile to a gas station. I pumped the bladder full, restarted the car, and all of the lights were gone.

SHEESH! Did you get similar lights when you ran out?

 

Mr. Bean,

I just added this to the FAQ from your description about running out of gas:

"If you run out of gas in an NHW20, ". . . the car upper dash lit up with warning lights galore and the gas pedal stopped working. The specific lights were the large exclamation point in a triangle followed by the (!) light and the VSC light and the image of the engine" but no "OUT OF FUEL" indicator. You can drive a short distance, at a slow speed in electric mode directly to a gas station. Once filled with gas, the errors will clear."

The FAQ is now Version 1.05.

THANKS!

Now if we can find out what happens with an NHW11 out of gas, we might be able to remove the NHW20 qualifier. Any volunteers?

BTW folks, if you have something you'd like to see in the FAQ or changes, feel free to message or e-mail me with the suggestion. In this case, "out of gas" is a risk someone might get and the lack of an "OUT OF FUEL" indicator in a sea of 'Three Mile Island' warning and error lights might lead to an expensive tow or avoidable repair bill.

Bob Wilson

 

yes--you ran out of gas too. all the lights are a bit tough to handle and keep the car on the road. I did 55 MPH tp the gas station though but my I freaked out espetially becasue I had only been driving it 3 days---though I broke it some how.

 

When I got the car from the dealer I thing they put 10 gallons in it. This would explain why when I ran for 498 miles I had averaged 49.8 MPG and then the bladder was empty. It will take me a while to say bladder and not tank. The cool thing was that Toyota gives you $30 worth of gas when you get the car. Back in the stone ages I picked up my 25 MPG Nissan Maxima from the dealer with 1.5 miles on the odometer and the fuel light on so I had to drive out of the Nissan dealership to a gas station before I put the car in 2nd gear.

 

Mr. Wilson

Note: I was able to drive at 55 MPH to the gas station (I was on a highway) just on electric. My recomendation would be "don't brake" to reduce speed, except for the ICE I had full control over everything else in the car.

Also note that the actual light that comes on that is the scariest is "WARNING BATTERY DISCHARGE." That is the one that made me figure out what was going on but is also the one that would have someone call for a tow.