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Odometer doesn't match GPS miles

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Maryna, Jul 1, 2019.

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  1. Maryna

    Maryna New Member

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    Recently I drove 150 miles (according to my GPS on the smartphone) from one city to another, but it added 250 miles on my odometer, so it was off by 100 miles. I have noticed this before but never paid much attention. But it looks like I'm accumulating miles way too fast, doesn't look like the actual GPS miles I'm putting on the car. Is it a bug? Issue? Is it like this for all hybrids? How to fix it? Any advice/input?

    My car is a Toyota prius 2012 and has 140,000 miles, 20,000 of it I put since June 2018 I don't spend half of my life behind the wheel and didn't use the car for the last 6 months, so it is really odd
     
    #1 Maryna, Jul 1, 2019
  2. tankyuong

    tankyuong Senior Member

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    Km?
     
    #2 tankyuong, Jul 2, 2019
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  3. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Did you buy it new in the U.S., or used? If used, is there any chance it is a Canadian unit, therefore displaying kilometers instead of miles? Was the dashboard cluster ever replaced?

    My own 2012's odometer reads about 0.2 to 0.3% low, i.e. off less than 1 mile per 300 GPS miles.
     
    #3 fuzzy1, Jul 2, 2019
  4. Pluggo

    Pluggo Senior Member

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    150 miles is about 241 kilometers. If you want a 3rd opinion, open maps.google.com and right-click for "Measure distance." Drag the line to recreate your exact route. Find the km/h MPH button on your dashboard.
    upload_2019-7-2_5-58-11.png
     
    #4 Pluggo, Jul 2, 2019
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2019
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  5. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Yap, odometer being 100 miles off from actual 250 miles driven is too strange. Both my previous Gen3 and current PRIME odometers are dead on accurate within +/- 1 mile for ~300 miles distance traveled when compared to GPS, Google MAP, and the highway markers. As others suggested, I suspect km distance is being displayed.
     
    #5 Salamander_King, Jul 2, 2019
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2019
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  6. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    or gps is showing "as the bird flies" and the actual driven path was "as a drunk bird flies" :D

    but in reality, the above responses sound much more likely
     
    #6 TMR-JWAP, Jul 2, 2019
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  7. Maryna

    Maryna New Member

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    No, I own this car since Jan 2013, brand new from dealership. The distance is in miles, odometer as well. Any advice on how to resolve it?
     
    #7 Maryna, Jul 2, 2019
  8. tankyuong

    tankyuong Senior Member

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    Try different gps app
     
    #8 tankyuong, Jul 3, 2019
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  9. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    We don't yet have enough information to track down the error. It could be in the odometer, or in the phone GPS app, or an operator error. Or even more than one of those.

    You'll need to give us more hints, and possibly do more testing. E.g. go out on a relatively straight highway (i.e. not a winding mountain or river road) for 10 miles or more, and compare both the odometer and GPS to the mileposts along the roads. While I prefer much longer distances for my calibration tests, the error you are seeing is so large that even a short distance should reveal a problem.

    While we wait for you to find time to do such a test, could you provide a few hints right now?
    (1) What particular smartphone GPS app did you use?
    (2) For the trip where you discovered this problem, which cities were you traveling between, on what highway or route?

    =================
    PS. Now I see the other thread, indicating Houston to Austin. That answers a part of it, but please still fill in the rest.
     
    #9 fuzzy1, Jul 3, 2019
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2019
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  10. CR94

    CR94 Senior Member

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    You could use highway mileage markers for a third vote to break the tie. As fuzzy says, right now we do not have enough information to know whether the car or your GPS is right.
     
    #10 CR94, Jul 3, 2019
  11. knix6

    knix6 2013 4, 7/19 2011 prius 2

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    1. map on your gps device 1 mile,
    2. drive the car on that route
    3. read the odo.
    4. relief hopefully
     
    #11 knix6, Jul 9, 2019
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