My wife actually ran out, but she described the whole thing and it proved to be an interesting and maybe little scary scenario. Basically the car started lagging (wouldn't go above 25 mph) For about a mile it started to act sluggish, so my wife pulled off the main road and into a side road. From there she's able to move it a bit and warning lights at the steering wheel go off I get there with a tank of gas, put in about 1/8 of a gallon, started the car, moved it, it acted sluggish again and I just turned it off. I noticed that the car went down to disc on the battery meter I was worried of draining the battery too much and I was debating on somehow getting the car to a plug lol I ended up just putting in half a gallon of gas, drove it home to charge then to a gas station where I filled up 9.5 gallons. So...lesson learned. When your PIP gas meter starts blinking, don't push it like a regular Prius where I could go the mpg * 2 in distance (after a reset when the PIP blinks). In this case, we were 20 miles short (it was at 50 mpg and 80 miles distance just about). Of course the mpg and miles gone was polluted by charging among some things. Just go to the gas station when the first gallon is used regardless of the mpg you have :O Lucky for the PiP, I can put enough gas, drive home, charge and then go to a gas station within a 10 mile radius.
my pip starts blinking with 2 gallons left in reserve. 8 gallons every fill up, unless i drive beyond the blink. good to know you can just add a half gallon to get her going, thanks!
That's the thing that confused me. I didn't have two gallons left, it was short of it according to my calculations. But...maybe it's 2 gallons left if you don't charge the car. It was also extremely cold so the heat was running...
I almost ran out last night when a whiteout snowstorm forced me to reroute to get home. The trip home from Vegas was supposed to take 16hrs and take me through Klamath Falls, but I went the long way around the storm system and added 4hrs to the trip. The last PiP flashed 110 miles from Bend Oregon, and I managed to make it. I'll check my receipt, but I couldn't have had more than 0.2 gallons left. I've always been able to go at least 100 miles after the last pip flashes. My Prius has at least 2 gallons left when the last pip flashes; perhaps your car is calibrated a little differently. I'd make note of your mileage when it flashes, then fill it up, taking note of how many gallons it takes. This will give you a good idea of how much fuel is remaining at the moment your gauge alarms.
I had one bar left on a drive home, 30 miles. It told me I had 2 miles left to go when I finally filled up. I was scared for a bit!
You can drive it down to 0. But don't believe me :O 2 gallons are supposedly left when the bar blinks.
It bothers me that Toyota allows people like you to be scared about running out of fuel when you have so much left in the tank. If you filled the tank up to full afterwards, check your receipt and you will be surprised to see there was still over 2 gallons of fuel left, or better than 100 miles of range. My PiP took 10.2 gallons of fuel the day it ran out of gas, and I regularly fill with 9+ gallons well after the last fuel bar flashes. After reading through my notes, it seems pretty consistent that the low fuel warning sounds after consuming only 8.2 gallons.
Ideally Toyota should really tell you how many gallons are in the tank, and how many left + an indicator for error and possibility of shutdown. I agree, 100 miles of range and telling you that you have 10 miles left is kind of lame.
I understand why Toyota gives an early warning; to prevent people from stranding themselves, but many people are needlessly stressed thinking they are close to running out of fuel when that isn't the case. On my 20hr drive the other day I planned my refueling stops to comfortably make it to each destination, but didn't count on all stations being closed after 10pm in smaller towns. I came close to running out, having only 0.2 gallons left when I refueled at the next available station. I'm sure Toyota is trying to leave a buffer for situations such as these when plans don't go as planned. However, a better approach might be an early reminder to refuel, followed by the most accurate estimation of distance remaining that the computer can calculate. Tell people to refuel well before they run out, but also give them the data to determine how far they can go if refueling early isn't possible.
