New Prius V - out of gas - need clarification please

[Priusmah]

I know, I know, I know .. I am an idiot for running out of gas BUT I NEVER ran out of gas in my GM cars over the past 30 years. I am new to Toyota and considering going back to GM ... hence my post .. to make a decision.

Situation: Prius V less than 5k miles. On interstate going 70mph on bluetooth cell phone on business calls (my life), car becomes sluggish ... hmmmm .. might have a problem .. no indication on dash that catches my attention ... car begins to accerlerate again ... get in right lane .. car becomes sluggish .. darn ... gas bar is flashing ... get on shoulder .. try to get to next exit .. less than a mile .. no luck... stuck on four lane interstate just to the right of while line on the right shoulder .. a few feet away from guard rail on passenger side. No where to go and guard rail 'til next exit.

Net. I am in a dangerous location with cars and 18 wheelers whizzing by at 70mph and the Prius is swaying every time a vehicle goes by. Highway assists comes and puts gallon of gas. I start the vehicle, gas engine turns on and then it stops. Won't start. Call My dealer who is 70 miles away.

Steps:
Walk through emergency start with Mydealer on phone, pumping gas pedal, etc.

The POWER comes on and it will go from park to Neutral. Will not go into drive or reverse. No message on why.

Highway assists puts another gallon in. No start. I am stuck. My dealer calls tow and dealer close to my location (I am 70 miles from home).

Tow took 1 1/2 hr. Meanwhile highway patrol stops, reads manual, try another method (holding POWER button 15 seconds) No start. He suggest I go with him to nearest gas station because if Prius gets hit, I am toast. I left hazard lights on.

Tow service cannot start. Now I have message Parking system is not communicating. We tow to gas station, fill up, no start.Tow service says he has started many Prius after running out of gas. Tow to dealer within 10 miles "other dealer".

After two hours they take me in an office. Ma'am, you ran out of gas. Since this is negligence we cannot cover any carges under platinum extended warranty. All they did was reset codes and put it on charge, I think. They also tell me running out of gas "REQUIRES" the dealer to reset codes. I had ten codes to be reset including codes for towing.

I tell them negilence is Toyota not giving me "attention getting" warnings when I am low on fuel. Negligence is Toyota requiring a dealer visit by tow truck to reset codes after running out of gas. I am stuck in a dangerous situation asking the highway assist to put themselves in a dangerous situation and not being notified by my supposeably smart car that a tow is reguired? I have read other posts where you guys have run out of gas, put gas in and restarted the car. So now I don't know what to believe.

BTW, they ended up covering the $170. They just asked for a superior rating on the survey.

Now I have to decide if I want to keep this car. Not that I am planning to run out of gas again; but, what if this had happened at night? on a Saturday? Sunday? Give me a break.... I can't restart my car after I put gas in it without a tow to an open dealer?

Sorry for the long post but I am pretty pissed right now. So here are my questions:

Is anyone else pissed at the lack of alerts for low fuel? My GM cars turn on red light and sound a ding you cannot ignore. I can get a message to obey traffic laws on Prius start up and I can't get a message on my screen.. go get fuel you idiot?

Is it true in my 2010 Prius V that I have to be towed after an out of gas situation?

If not true, can anyone help me with what went wrong in my situation?

What else might I learn the hard way unless you guys tell me 'cause obviously my dealer is not going to?

Right now I hate my Prius

[Russell Frost]

You're "pissed" and you "hate your Prius" because you ran out of gas?

Seriously?

Sell it now and go buy a Malibu. That will definitely solve all your problems.

[Much More Better]

You didn't know the last bar of the fuel indicator flashes when the gas gets low?

[GrumpyCabbie]

That must have been one hell of a long phone call for you not to notice that you were running low on fuel!!!

Easy to blame someone else but come on get real. You'll probably look back and laugh at the situation once you've calmed down.

[PriusRos]

I don't think I've gotten low on fuel in the 2010 yet, but in the 2006 I definitely got a warning. After the gas gauge has been down to one pip for a while, you will hear a pretty loud beep, there will be a message on the display, and the one pip will start flashing. I'm pretty sure it will still keep going for another 10 miles after that.

Something is wrong with your car if you didn't get these warnings long before you ran out of gas.

[PriusRos]

Originally Posted by ice weasel

You're "pissed" and you "hate your Prius" because you ran out of gas?

Seriously?

Sell it now and go buy a Malibu. That will definitely solve all your problems.

Originally Posted by GrumpyCabbie

That must have been one hell of a long phone call for you not to notice that you were running low on fuel!!!

Easy to blame someone else but come on get real. You'll probably look back and laugh at the situation once you've calmed down.

It really could be that the car didn't give the warnings that is supposed to. That beep is pretty loud and hard to miss. And can either of you explain why the car wouldn't start after adding two gallons of gas?

[mindmachine]

Suggest you read the manual on any new car you buy, as there are always slight differences. Plus the newer cars have different electronics and warnings for various things that older cars did not have.

But blaming Toyota for your operator error, all cars have a gas gauge, when the gauge starts blinking and there is a beep too, i would have thought you might wonder what the heck was up and noticed it was on empty or at least wondered about the beep.

On the phone when you should have been paying better attention to your driving maybe. Probably why you may not have heard the beep warning of low fuel.

My advice if you don't like the Prius take the financial hit and buy something else, but watch the gas gauge on whatever you buy because it will run out too if you are not paying attention. Running out of gas is never a good idea and yes the car can suffer damage and on occasion require dealer intervention from it, and not just the Prius.

Your trying to restart and drive the car on empty is probably why you had to have it towed. Others on this forum have run their Prius out of gas and were able to add fuel and restart the car. Do a search if you are interisted.

[wvgasguy]

You never ran out of gas in a Chevy and yet you managed to run out of gas in a Prius that will go 100 miles after it hits empty???

[jdcollins5]

I would have to add you to the list of people these days buying new cars, not taking the time to understand how to operate their cars and then blaming the car manufacturers for their problems. Toyota certainly does not need your help right now. Take the advice above, sell the car and buy a GM.

[LoveMyPriusIII]

Take it easy guys. Instead of bashing her you could show a little empathy for what she went through. Yes she made the mistake of running out of gas but the bottom line is that it did not start after gas was added. She was out of commission for hours and had to have it towed to the dealer just to get it running again. If you lost track of time and ran out of fuel on the highway and had to go through all this to get up and running again you would be upset too.

This happened to me with a GM car I had in my teens where I ran out of gas and burned out the fuel pump. I had to have it towed and the fuel pump replaced. Until now I did not know that running out of gas on the Prius would require a tow. I am curious if this is normal or an isolated case.