has anyone intentionally run their Prius until it was dry?

Several people on this site have reported running out of gas, intentionally or otherwise. From their reports, the dashbord lights up with warnings (I think including the big red triangle) but the car continues to run as long as the HV battery has charge. I am not sure, but I think people have said a mile or two on a full charge. I have not seen reports of any adverse effects once they put fuel in.

However, on battery alone the car has much less power and much lower maximum speed, which can be a safety issue, depending on conditions.

 

Just happened to me yesterday.

I was averaging 52.0 to 52.5 mpg and had gone 73 miles after the last fuel gauge bar started blinking at me. I had 20 miles to go to get home and was approaching the last gas station.

I made a decision to pass the gas and wait till I got home. Why? I had gone 65 miles past the add fuel warning on my last tank and only replaced 10.2 gallons so I figured I had at least another 40 miles in the tank.

I got about 100 feet past the gas station entrance and my wife asked why I didn't stop like I said I would earlier. I said we had more than enough gas to get home. 5 seconds later - BAM - RED TRIANGLE. I couldn't turn around immediately, and ended up driving to the next farm driveway to turn around. I probably went between a third and a half mile from out of gas to the pump. The battery drained from full blue (1 short of green) to minimum blue (1 short of pink). I pumped in 11.9 gallons. 599.0 miles on the tank with an MFD mpg of 52.1. (Calculates to 50.3 mpg)

What happens when you run out of gas:
1) No second warning - you just run out of gas.
2) Red triangle comes on along with several other system errors on the heads up display and some sort of orange-colored warning on the MFD. (I was in too much shock and trying to turn around on a country highway with NASCAR traffic to pay attention to what they all were. I wish I had a camera with me.)
3) Lack of engine power - you're running only on electric.
4) All systems seem to work fine - radio, air conditioning, etc. (yes, I turned them off as soon as I could)

Morals to the story:
1) When you mention you'll stop for gas to the wife, DO IT. There is some sort of subconcious mental telepathy or feminine intuition cause and effect system in the universe. :mrgreen:
2) Do not pass the last gas station if there is any possibility you might not make the next one.
3) Do not go more than 50 miles after your car tells you it's thirsty - no matter what MPG you're getting.
4) You do not have more than a half mile of available electric after you run out of gas.
5) After filling up, do not panic when the red triangle is still on - it takes a few seconds to get the gas from the tank to the engine. I panicked and turned it off. When I turned it back on, everything was fine.
6) The tank is a 12 gallon tank, just like Toyota said.

 

"Never pass the last gas station."

Good advice.

 

According to another post, the fact that you ran out of gasoline is recorded by the onboard computer and a code is generated for the Toyota service department. Some repairs may not be covered by the warranty if the mechanics decide that the problem was caused by running out of gasoline.

 

OUCH!

 

There is a principle in law, something like "presumption of serviceability." I'm not sure if that's exactly what they call it. The point is that if a product can be reasonably assumed to serve a certain purpose, then there is an implied (and binding) warranty that it will serve that purpose. An example woud be a baby carriage that collapses under the weight of a normal baby. The manufacturer would be responsible even if he never actually promised that the baby carriage would support a baby.

It is understood that drivers occasionally run out of gas. If a car maker refused to cover a repair under warranty, claiming that the damage was caused by running out of gas, you could argue that there is an assumption of serviceability that a car will not be damaged by running out of gas. It's not a cut-and-dry case, but it's a strong argument in your favor

While there's no telling what a disreputable dealer may try to do, I do not believe that Toyota would try to weasel out of paying for repairs on the grounds that you ran out of gas.

Further, several people have reported no damage after running out of gas, suggesting that Toyota has indeed designed the car not to be damaged by running out of gas.

Of course, if you run out of gas on the freeway and suddenly slow down to EV speed and get hit by a truck, that's another matter. Or if your HV battery dies at 90,000 miles, and they can show that you ran out of gas twice every week and ran the battery all the way down, resulting in frequent wide swings of SOC well outside the design limits, that would be another thing. But if you run out of gas once or twice, they're not going to deny you warranty coverage for that. And besides, it's a Toyota. What are your chances of ever needing warranty work in the first place?

 

The person whose Prius ran out of gasoline was charged under warranty $99 to turn off a warning light because a code indicated that he had run out of gasoline, and according to the mechanic that's what caused the light to come on.

 

It's a good thought but I think Toyota is covered; the manual recommends filling up when the gauge shows 1/4 of a tank.

 

A careless boob can accidentally run out of gas. Only an idiot, here defined as someone with far more free time and disposable income than sense, deliberately runs out of gas. I'm reminded of the reactor operators at Chernobyl who asked themselves one fine but dull day, "if we shut off the main cooling pumps and the backup pumps, how far can we pull out the control rods before something interesting happens?". Sheesh. Experiment with your $25,000 car if you must; be sure let us know how that works out for you :_>