Red Triangle/Dealer Refusing to Honor Hybrid Warranty?

Re: Dealer Refusing to Honor Hybrid Warranty?

That makes sense - I wonder how much he drove it after it ran out of gas.

 

Re: Dealer Refusing to Honor Hybrid Warranty?

Thank you.

 

Re: Dealer Refusing to Honor Hybrid Warranty?

Yes, my tone is rude; and I apologize for that. I happen to think that driving your hybrid after you run out of gas is contrary to common sense. When my regular car runs out of gas, I don't try to continue driving it, I go and get more gas.

If my gas gauge isn't working, I go and get it fixed.

When my engine runs low on oil, I get more oil in it (and find out why it's losing oil), I don't drive it until it seizes and then ask why the damage isn't covered under warranty. How many more similitudes should I make to get my point across?

 

Re: Dealer Refusing to Honor Hybrid Warranty?

People have been running out of oil and having their engines seize up for 100 years (despite warnings in the owners manuals). People run out of gas all the time with no permanent damage.

Is the average consumer exected to understand the intricacies of a hybrid system? I've been a member of this forum and a Prius owner for over three years and still don't understand half of it.

If running out of gas has a different result in a hybrid than in a normal car, there should be a warning.

 

Re: Dealer Refusing to Honor Hybrid Warranty?

How far did you drive after you ran out of gas?

 

Re: Dealer Refusing to Honor Hybrid Warranty?

I'm sorry, but I happen to disagree with you 100%... And no... your points make no sense in this debate.

Since part of the "gas" of the prius is the battery... it isn't out of "gas" until it's stopped moving under its own power.. be it ICE or electric.

I think it is completely reasonable to expect to drive the vehicle as far as possible until it stops entirely be it by either fuel source. (just like a gas powered car).

I also believe that in court, this would most certainly stand up to test... Since the Prius essentially runs on two fuels, it's not unreasonable to expect that both could be depleted without harm to the car...

 

classic prius owners have run the car out of gas, kept going on battery till the battery quit, had the car towed in, and were presented with a bill for battery replacement or recharge if possible. [yes, this is the first i've heard of a 2g prius in this situation but who said it was impervious to the same problem?]

why was the owner billed? because the car was not meant to run on battery alone. there is even a warning in the owner's manual about not running the car without gas.

any other questions?

 

If the car was not "meant" to run on battery alone, then why does it?

Explain.

 

cars were not meant to run without oil. you can still crank an empty engine though, can't you?

 

Yes, but you cannot drive the car.

 

Re: Dealer Refusing to Honor Hybrid Warranty?

Thank you! I agree 100%. Because its truly moronic running out of gas in this car and I'm sure the dealers are sick of it too. Based on the posts I read here its alot of people and most of them seem pretty self righteous about it....it being not there fault. How many of these people would you spend your day arguing with if you worked at a dealer? And like you I never thought I would disagree with Mr Patsparks as he is one smart dude but most likely the person in question when they ran out of gas didn't even know the Prius goes in emergency mode and allows you to EV for a while. They must just think Hey I gots a magic car. Sweet! The person in question probably drove for miles with every warning light lit on the dash so bright red he probably has a suntan on his face. Hosed the massive traction battery so bad its dead jim. And of course it stored a code 000045 which is hexi decimal for your a friggin' moron. We have to get together and fix this idiocy of so many people running out of gas in our cars. Its now epidemic! Tokyo has the Intertubes. There's probably a few Toyota Prius Engineers who speak English who have stumbled across Priuschat and when they finally stop laughing at us moronic Americans they will install some really idiotic loud siren that will sound off with 3 gallons remaining. Because were stupid here in this country as far as the rest of the world can tell....(see George Bush) And it will be irritating. That siren. I swear. Just stop it.

 

There are numerous entries in the users manual warning against allowing the battery to discharge to excess, including a section that specifically warns against letting the vehicle stand for a prolonged amount of time.

The 2008 version of the manual does not mention anything about running out of fuel at all, which is something that needs to be addressed, I admit.

I find it unreasonable to drive a regular car until it runs out of gas-- there are systems that become damaged by running out of fuel. There is water and sludge and other nastiness that get sucked into the engine when the tank is running extremely low, which causes damage and inefficiency.

Then perhaps this does need to go to court, since between the two of us there appears to be an irreconcilable difference in opinion regarding reasonability.

 

um, yes. you can. not for long, but long enough to ruin the car.
sound like running on battery? yes, you can. for long enough to ruin the car.

the purpose of oil is to keep the engine from self-destructing.

shall i proceed to coolant or what?

 

I've never run out of gas in my Prius -- does the red triangle appear? If so, it would be accompanied by a message on the screen. I wonder what it says . . . does it say something like "shut down vehicle to avoid damage" or something like that? Or maybe "told you so!" I don't understand how the car would be allowed to continue driving if it does damage to the hybrid components -- there are other systems in the car to protect them in other situations.

 

BTW, this is the manual Toyota should give us.

... and yes, it goes into what happens when you run out of gas.