VSC light on caused by out of gas?

All you had to do is fill the tank and you should have been fine. I've never heard of the need to "recalibrate the hybrid system" due to running out of gas. I think the dealer is lining his pockets.

 

Second that. About 1.5 years ago, my wife drove home and ran out of gas as she turned onto our street. Neither of us knew about the guess gauge at the time. She said the pip just started flashing on the last mile or two before she got home, then she got the exclamation point of death right before pulling into the garage. To that point, we had always been able to go several miles on the last pip. We never pushed it, but that's how it worked out.

I went down to check it out. It started right up, no warnings or anything except for the normal fuel warning. I shut it down and restarted, and headed out to get gas. I got a 1/4 mile toward the station a mile away when I got the warning and shutdown. I limped it another 1/4 mile on battery power down to one bar. I walked the remaining 1/2 mile and bought a can and gas. After fighting with the gas can spout and the Prius' fuel filler for a half hour, I got enough in to drive the last half mile to fill up. After driving it for a short time, and going through a few power cycles, the check engine light went out too.

The moral of my long-winded story is most of the time, it's bad but not disastrous. Running out of gas is easy to do and a major PITA in the Prius, and can be disastrous if you do it several times or seriously overdrain the hybrid battery even once. But if you just run out once, limp on the battery to the side of the road and get more gas before restarting, it should not cost you $400 to recalibrate anything. The most it should cost is a call to AAA (or equivalent) and some embarrassment.

What dealer did you go to? You say you're in CA, so if it's one in LA County or northern Orange, and you don't want to post the name publicly, PM me. We had the Prius there for about two years and a Camry there for a year before that. I'm familiar with some, and can tell you if they're likely to be on the up-and-up.

 

I said it before and I'll say it again.
Look for fuel when you are down to 2 bars on the gauge, it is urgent when you are down to 1 bar and critical when it flashes. Always fill when you are down to 2 bars. It has no affect on fuel economy to fill more often.

The fuel gauge is right in front of the driver, even more in front than the speedo, what more can Toyota do?

I also think you are being over charged for an unnecessary service.

 

You were ripped off, but as the others have said, when it needs gas, fill it up. That's what the gas gauge is for.

Tom

 

I ran out of gas in my prius before, and it died. (I also had all the warning lights) All I did was dump a can of gas in it. Then I drove it straight to the gas station. The warning lights completely went off as soon as I filled the tank. That was 20,000 miles ago.

 

I agree with others that the dealer ripped you off. I would try and get details of what exactly happens in a "calibration". If you get a red ! triangle, that usually disappears after a few restarts unless there really is a problem.

 

The recalibration may be to ensure the car will run for longer on a blinking final bar, however I wont bother testing that theory.

I ran out of fuel in my work car because the 6 cylinder Commodore was calibrated for a V8 Commodore fuel tank. That was fixed under warranty.

 

I'd fax or email the bill to Toyota customer care people and see if they will refund it (and probably charge the dealer themselves!)

 

At least it's not likely that he'll let it run out of gas again...

 

No, read my lips, fill up when down to 2 bars. If you have only 1 bar on the fuel gauge you have no idea how much fuel you have. Filling more often won't wreck your fuel economy.

I use my situation as an example of the effect of filling on 2 bars rather than 1.

I fill about every 800km at 2 bars.
If I filled at 1 bar I would get an extra 100km from the tank.
I fill every 3 weeks so I fill less than 18 times a year.
If I filled at 1 bar I would get 100km more from a tank or 1.5 more day roughly.
I would fill my car about 16.5 times a year or save 1.5 fills per year.
If I keep my car for an average length of time, say 5 years I will save about 7.5 fills in that 5 years by filling at 1 bar not 2.

It takes 5 minutes to fill up. 5 minutes times 7.5 equals 37.5 minutes.

How long does it take for a tow truck or road side service to come if you run out of fuel? 38 minutes wouldn't be far off and if you drive after running out of fuel you might blow your drive train warranty.

 

There'll be a comfortable cushion of remaining gas then when the last PIP starts flashing. 2 bars is being a bit too cautious... after all, you still have room to go down to 1 bar, and then a bit more before it flashes. Filling more often won't wreck fuel economy, but waiting a day to fill up could mean a couple bucks more in your pocket when the price of gas drops (ie the weekend).

 

Out of curiousity, which dealer did you deal with? I'm in CA too....

 

I fill up at three PIPs, but I have a 100 mile round trip commute. I also had an F250 diesel that would act funny if you ran the fuel lower than 1\4 tank in town (all the sloshing around) It also took 38 gallons to fill it up!! I,m shure some of you know how long it takes to pump 38 gallons into a foaming diesel tank, plus fuel treatment. Pumping 8 gallons of regular into a Prius a few extra time a year is a piece of cake. And you can always find a pump a 4:30 in the morning.