2010 Toyota Prius FCD Inaccuracy

[msirach]

I started a new thread for the updates specifically for the issue of the inaccuracy of the FCD (fuel consumption display) on the 2010 Toyota Prius.

We have about 4500 miles on ours and on every tank the hand calculated MPG is off 3 to 7 MPG from what the FCD reads. My wife gets about 54 MPG on the FCD and her tanks are usually 4 to 5 MPG less calculated. Last week I had two 500 + mile fills and The first was 5.5mpg less and the second 7.1 MPG . This was with a FCD display of 62 MPG which included a lot of around town in Madison for Hybridfest Green Drive Expo. The second tank read 64.4 MPG and it was fully highway driving. It was off by 7.1 MPG .

5 to 10% is out of the box for error. I fill up at the same station, same pump, same number of clicks, and same direction each time with the exception of the fill in Madison last week of which I estimated slope to be the same at the station I filled at.

I stopped at the dealer and had them check it out to get a paper trail started. Nothing was found so I followed up with a call to start a claim with customer care the next day. They took my information and later that day, Heather from customer care called back. She gave me a file number to record to use if I called back. She was going to investigate and call me back this week.

Heather just called back and said she had talked to field service reps and engineers and they informed her they were aware of an accuracy issue of 8% to 10%. They were looking further into the issue and expected something would come out in the form of a TSB.

Once again I am impressed by the quality of Toyota's attention to their product.

[a priori]

Originally Posted by msirach

We have about 4500 miles on ours and on every tank the hand calculated MPG is off 3 to 7 MPG from what the FCD reads.

I'm just above 5,200 now, and I have very similar results.

Originally Posted by msirach

5 to 10% is out of the box for error.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by msirach

. . . so I followed up with a call to start a claim with customer care the next day. They took my information and later that day, Heather from customer care called back. She gave me a file number to record to use if I called back. She was going to investigate and call me back this week.

Heather just called back and said she had talked to field service reps and engineers and they informed her they were aware of an accuracy issue of 8% to 10%. They were looking further into the issue and expected something would come out in the form of a TSB.

Once again I am impressed by the quality of Toyota's attention to their product.

I'm glad customer service knows about this, is looking into it and is being responsive. Let's hope this gets cleared up sometime soon. If I'm really getting 54MPG+ on a Prius V, I shouldn't be complaining at all. But the fact that the computer tells me I'm really getting 57MPG+ just isn't right (unless the ODO is really messed up).

Here's a chart showing that my variance really is narrowing in on 5%:



(The above jpeg is a bit degraded. A better view of it is available in the .pdf file listed below.)

[tumbleweed]

Have either of you checked the speedometer mileage against a portable GPS? I wonder if it is the distance, the fuel flow, or both that's off? A gas pump could be off by quite a few percent but I doubt all of them are.

[jay_man2]

Originally Posted by tumbleweed

Have either of you checked the speedometer mileage against a portable GPS? I wonder if it is the distance, the fuel flow, or both that's off? A gas pump could be off by quite a few percent but I doubt all of them are.

There are a couple of other threads on this, and everyone's seeing calculated mpg lower than displayed mpg.

In previous Toyota's I came to expect that the displayed mpg would be about 1.5 mpg higher than actual, and it was pretty consistent across two RX 330s, a Camry Hybrid, and a Highlander Hybrid.

Here I'm seeing the display read 1.5 to 3 mpg higher, with the gap getting wider the higher the mpg's. Just today I filled up with the display reading 53.2, and a calculated mpg of 50.2.

I can't complain about the actual mpg; I'm very happy there. I just wish the displayed mileage was closer to actual.

[ken1784]

Following is copy of my post.
=====
Japanese G3 owners are also seeing 5-6% error.
I saw approx 10% error on the VW Golf.
Are there any vehicle which reports the exact same computer MPG as calculated MPG?

There are a lot of factors to produce computer MPG error, and a car manufacturers doesn't want to display worse computer MPG than calculated(actual) MPG.

A rumor says that Toyota engineers are going to display intentionally 5% better number on computer MPG for the Gen3 Prius.

Ken@Japan

[bwilson4web]

Originally Posted by tumbleweed

Have either of you checked the speedometer mileage against a portable GPS? I wonder if it is the distance, the fuel flow, or both that's off? A gas pump could be off by quite a few percent but I doubt all of them are.

My testing with a Garmin nuvi showed the indicated MPG was about 1 mph high at 50-70 mph but the trip meter average speed was accurate. Previous tests with my NHW11 showed the speed error is proportional to the milage error from different sized tires.

Bob Wilson

[FireEngineer]

[quote=msirach;913918]
Heather just called back and said she had talked to field service reps and engineers and they informed her they were aware of an accuracy issue of 8% to 10%. They were looking further into the issue and expected something would come out in the form of a TSB.
quote]

Great going Mike, I'll call up and complain too. 8-10% seems much more like the error I'm seeing. And you have to wonder if maybe some of these first Prius out the door were specially "calibrated" to make the MPG seem fantastic for the early adopters.

Wayne

[MSantos]

Originally Posted by FireEngineer

Great going Mike, I'll call up and complain too. 8-10% seems much more like the error I'm seeing. And you have to wonder if maybe some of these first Prius out the door were specially "calibrated" to make the MPG seem fantastic for the early adopters.

Wayne

Hi Wayne (and Canadian Gen III owners);

Like Mike, I also submitted the issue to Toyota Canada Inc. last week notifying them of the issue and the need to have it addressed. I was informed they would look into it ASAP.

Cheers;

MSantos

[a priori]

Originally Posted by FireEngineer

Great going Mike, I'll call up and complain too. 8-10% seems much more like the error I'm seeing. And you have to wonder if maybe some of these first Prius out the door were specially "calibrated" to make the MPG seem fantastic for the early adopters.

Send the Toyota rep to this thread, Wayne. I'll keep updating the chart I posted above, but it is a slow thing when fill-ups are so far apart!

I'm thinking the difference is settling in at 5% for me. Ten tanks and 5,000 miles seems like a decent enough sample set.

BTW: Who did you find that would paint Blue Moon Metallic on your new 2010?

[EZW1]

The error between calculated and indicated on my '09 seems to follow the same trend. Typically my numbers differ by 4% but I do occasionally get swings as high as 8%. These differences do not track enviornmental conditions like temperature or terrain. So my guess is they're attributable to my driving habit - that is, sometimge I get real aggressive and other times I'm real passive.