Fill up at a 1/2 tank! or pay $159.12

[mdescher]

This is under the don't let this happen to you catagory. I have a 2006 and recently I was driving when the gas gauge light went from the 2nd bar to just one bar left, I went a bout 2 blocks and pulled into a gas station...car and ari conditioning were running fine as it was over 110 degrees that day. Filled up the tank putting only 9.2 gals in to fill...then the not fun part happened...my Prius would not start. Called for a tow to my usual Toyota dealer (Northridge Toyota) who ran a computer check the "cannot be wrong" and said I had 2 errors. aP3190 Poor engine power code, and a P3193 Fuel ran out code.
To make a long story short, the dealer said the computer would need to be re-booted, and charged me $159.12 for the pleasure. I was informed that thisis NOT UNDER WARRANTY, and was told this happens to all new Prius drivrs, and I must have been mistaken as the computer said I ran out of gas and this is what caused this!!! Funny how you can run out with 2.7 gallons of gas in the car....a car I might mention that states 50 miles to the gallon...evn my worst mileage uphill with air on is 37mpg...that said I should have been able to drive another 75+ miles easy before running out of gas.
Then it gets better...I pay so I can get to work...still disgruntled, and then call the dealership to complain 2 days later...I am told that the sales person should have said you have to keep at least 1/2 a tank of gas in the car at all times as the gauge does not display properly due to a bladder type fuel tank that contracts and expands with the outside temperature....and there is nothing I can do about it but call regional
Toyota. I did this yesterday, they confirmed this is not in the manual or on the warranty. I will now wait to see how this gets handled...in the meantime I am warning everyone I know of this...I hope you do too!!
Love my Prius...but if this is true...they need to recall them and fix it or make sure anyone who owns one is aware with a big sticker ovr the gas door ;-)

[FBear]

That is a total crock of c**p. Yes, it's true you shouldn't run the tank down to the last flashing pip. But half-full no way. You should speak to the regional Tech and press them on getting the money refunded. 2.7 gallons does not constitute an empty tank. Keep badgering them until they fork over the refund.

[Renocat]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mdescher @ Aug 1 2006, 01:27 PM) [snapback]295729[/snapback]</div>

I am told that the sales person should have said you have to keep at least 1/2 a tank of gas in the car at all times as the gauge does not display properly due to a bladder type fuel tank that contracts and expands with the outside temperature....
[/b]

I say that is not acceptable. Pay the kind of money we do for a Prius and then be told you have to keep it 1/2 full even though the manual says nothing about that

[paco-shalom]

2 points:

1. You probably did not have 2.7 gallons left in the tank if you put in 9.2. I have never been able to fill with more than 9.8 from the flashing pip, even the one time I ran out of gas. When calculating the max range for a tank of gas, use the number of gallons from your last fillup, not the maximum capacity. This is because of the bladder-tank.

2. I have never heard about rebooting the car computer after running out of gas. So many Prius drivers do run out, especially when trying to push to see how far they can get on a single tank. In my case, the car started up just fine after I added fuel.

[Salsawonder]

I often don't fill till the flashing pip on my 2005. I have actually gotten 10 gallons in once and never had a lick of trouble. Go after Regional, your dealer is feeding you a big load of......

[darelldd]

Yeah, this is BS. No need to guess at how much gas was in the tank - the gage clearly showed that you had gas in the tank... and the car was still running! As far as I can tell, you did NOT run out of gas... and even if you did, there's a charge for this? WTF?

If we can only use half a tank, then the day has now dawned when a modern EV has substantially more range than a modern gasoline car.

[daronspicher]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mdescher @ Aug 1 2006, 12:27 PM) [snapback]295729[/snapback]</div>

I am told that the sales person should have said you have to keep at least 1/2 a tank of gas in the car at all times as the gauge does not display properly due to a bladder type fuel tank that contracts and expands with the outside temperature....
[/b]

When they tell you stuff like this, ask for this information to be sent to you on letterhead, signed by whoever wants to back this statement up.

Then post a scan of the page on here for all of us..

Then start talking to Toyota corporate about what the heck is going on here.

I've filled up 38 times (since 2/15/06). 2 times, 11+ gallons. 10 times with 10.x gallons, and 16 times with 9.x gallons. Most of the 9.x gallon ones are in the high nines.

I think I've only had the blinking pip once or twice. 28 of 38 fillups are 9.0 and up, I'm not sure why all the trouble with people running out of gas, or having trouble gassing up their prius. Did I get the reject car that is freaky normal in this way?

[efusco]

Dash shoulda lit up like a christmas tree if you were out of gas. If that didn't happen then it shouldn't have logged an error code. Often you can find the mileage at which the error code was logged, you should ask for that information, if they have it now, maybe it was something in the past and was stored.

Can't explain why you didn't start up, something else was off. Do you have SKS? Did you leave the fob in the car while you fueled? There's a situation where you can hang-on-start up if you hit the Power button twice very quickly and that can be tricky to get out of (there's something in the FAQs about how to resolve that).

In any case, I think it highly improbable that you ran out of gas if the dash never lit up and told you there was a problem. Likewise there is no 'reboot' necessary if all that occured is that you ran out of gas, many many people do this semi-on purpose all the time with no consequences other than a CEL for 3 start-up cycles.

[taoofbean]

I ran out of gas completely and the computer did not need a reboot.This is bullshit. Particularly this 1/2 tank comment is pure bull. Don't stop till you get your money back.

[mdescher]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Aug 1 2006, 10:18 AM) [snapback]295777[/snapback]</div>

When they tell you stuff like this, ask for this information to be sent to you on letterhead, signed by whoever wants to back this statement up.

Then post a scan of the page on here for all of us..

Then start talking to Toyota corporate about what the heck is going on here.

I've filled up 38 times (since 2/15/06). 2 times, 11+ gallons. 10 times with 10.x gallons, and 16 times with 9.x gallons. Most of the 9.x gallon ones are in the high nines.

I think I've only had the blinking pip once or twice. 28 of 38 fillups are 9.0 and up, I'm not sure why all the trouble with people running out of gas, or having trouble gassing up their prius. Did I get the reject car that is freaky normal in this way?
[/b]

Lesson is in the leaning and experience gained. I called Toyota regional yesterday, they said they would have the regional customer service person contact me within 3 days. I will continue to post on this until resolved. Did not make any sense that if a car runs out (even though it did not) you cannot just fill it up an go.