So, many years ago, Amanda and I got a new car. The first thing we did was to switch get rid of my old Rodeo, and I took her old Subaru sedan, and she drove the new Forrester. So, thereafter I drove her old car, and she drove our new car.
One day I was on my way back home, and I noticed that the gas gauge needle was on E, but the Empty Tank Warning Light was not on. So I figured I’d get gas at the place near home, rather than stopping sooner.
Driving down the highway, the car sputtered and stopped working. I got it over to the side of the highway. Knowing that it was not out of gas, because the warning light was not on, I opted to be towed to the station, just a half mile away (I was almost home!) rather than to try fixing it on the road.
By the end of the day, I learned that the problem with the car, the reason it stopped on the highway, was this: Out of gas!
Later, I mentioned to Amanda that her former car’s gas tank warning light didn’t seem to be working any more, and I thought there was 20 miles or so before it went empty! Her response: “It has never worked, since I bought the car. You are thinking of the other car, dummy!”
Well, she didn’t say “dummy” but she should have. And, the answer to the question at the top of this post, with respect to that particular car, is: Undefined.
Much more recently, we were driving our Prius back from a visit up north. We passed the gas statin in Rice, but shouldn’t have, because we were almost out. Coming down into Saint Cloud, the warning light came on. Then, we hit a major traffic jam. There was no way we were going to make it to the gas station.
But, we were going down hill in stop and go traffic in a Prius. So, we switched to “Battery Mode” and stopped using gas for the next 10 minutes. No problem.
The point is, the answer to the question is necessarily imprecise. The best strategy is to avoid letting the light go on. Which, by the way, brings up an important digression into another myth: How empty should you let your car’s gas tank get?
It has long been thought that letting your car get too empty is a bad thing. For modern cars, this is a myth. It may always have been a myth. But today, all the reasons ever cited to avoid this are wrong except two. So, the rule that you should fill your tank when it is one quarter full is incorrect, ignore that. It doesn’t matter when you fill your tank.
But, this part is true: You don’t want your car to run out of gas. Why? Well because then it won’t go! Obviously. But there is another reason. It is actually possible that parts of your system, such as the catalytic converter, will be damaged or stressed by the process of zero-fuel-engine-stoppage. I’m not sure how that happens, but it can happen.
Also, it is a myth that you should not fill the tank on a hot day. You should, actually, never “top off” the tank. Just fill it until the hose clicks you off and leave it at that. Modern cars are designed to handle gas expansion, modern cars in combination with modern gas, are designed to handle moisture in the tank, etc. etc. These various rules about gas are either no longer valid because of changes in technology, or were never true, and merely part of Car Lore.
Anyway, back to the point. Your Mechanic web site has put together a table showing how long you have to drive, estimated and on average, and depending, for each of several makes and models of car, when the emergency fuel light goes on.
I’ve pasted it below, but first, I am reminded of a second myth. Sometimes the out of fuel light is in the form of a tiny gas tank, with the hose on one side. It is said that the side that has the hose on it (see illustration above) indicates which side of the car your filler hole is, which is handy if you are driving a borrowed or rented car.
It doesn’t. Well, maybe about half the time it does, but no, this is not a thing.
Here’s the chart:
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Gosh, such weighty, socially poignant topics you address here. For the rest of my life I shall be filled with anxiety while driving, looking every six seconds at the fuel gauge and dummy light while in a light sweat.
This might not seem important now, but some day you will thank me.
Ha! My older Honda Odyssey can go another 30 miles with visible space between the bottom of the E and the needle. It’s crazy-making. Still, I’ve never run out of gas driving her.
Pro tip for rental cars that have the little gas door release lever inside the car – pull the lever and check your side-view mirrors to see which side has the filler hole (such an eloquent name).
According to Snopes, most newer cars have a small arrow next to the pump icon that points to which side of the car that the filler cap is on.
http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/icon.asp
Your chart gives 80-104 miles for the Nissan Versa. But my Nissan Note, which I think is the UK version of the same car, gives me a countdown of miles remaining which shows about 35 miles when the light comes on. Is my car lying to me?
Yes, your car is lying to you. On purpose: The manufacturer does not want to risk looking bad if your car runs out of gas. Even if it’s your fault.
(It also doesn’t want to risk you damaging your engine if that should happen — you’ll blame them for that, too.)
looking every six seconds at the fuel gauge
When driving, I’m constantly scanning, because otherwise I (and most humans) risk getting tunnel vision. I scan various distances ahead on the road, up to the horizon; the mirrors, the time, the speed, the gas, whether any idiot lights are on, all the road signs, and in between items on the scan I always look forward.
The table presumably should also break down by year, because my 1999 Subaru Outback turns on its light when I have about 1.5 gal left in the tank.
@ # 4
A simple and universal convention is that the filler cap is on the opposite side to the steering wheel – to ensure filling up by the roadside is done safely
Where this is not the case it will be due to the steering being on the other side of the car to conform to certain export markets
tadaa, my typical American bought Subaru has the filler on the right. My wife’s typical American bought Prius has the filler on the left.
What you say makes sense, but does not seem to apply irl.
“A simple and universal convention is that the filler cap is on the opposite side to the steering wheel ”
No – my new Civic Touring has the filler on the left.
What does seem to happen, quite often, is this: when a car has a single exhaust pipe, the filler will be on the opposite side of the car: exhaust pipe right, filler left: exhaust pipe left, filler right. Not always mind you, but amazingly often.
Dean, so, you don’t have to get out of your car before you pull up to the pump to check which side the filler is on.
But you still have to get out of your car before you pull up to the pump to check which side the exhaust pipe is on!
Hope I am not double-posting here– perhaps I failed to “submit” before.
Anyway, the first VW Beetle I had had a lever that you flip with your foot that gave you access to a reserve tank with about a gallon of gas. You knew it was time to do this when you actually ran out of gas.
The trick was to remember to flip it back to “off” after you filled your tank.
“But you still have to get out of your car before you pull up to the pump to check which side the exhaust pipe is on!”
No, there is one exhaust on each side (split from a single exhaust system, purely for show). Stupid, if you ask me, for a 4-cylinder engine, but I assume someone somewhere in the design chain though it added something to the car’s look.
I love the car: rides great, makes good use of my phone through Android Auto and bluetooth, lots of other goodies, and I get nearly 40 mpg in town and low-to-mid 40s on the highway.
tadaa@8: Further anecdata on this: I drive a Subaru that was built in Japan. Since the Japanese drive on the left, your model would predict that the gas tank inlet would be on the left, since cars made in that plant for the domestic market would have right-hand drive. But my Subaru, like Greg’s, has the inlet on the right.
To the point of the original post, a lot depends on your location and driving habits. If you drive every day in an area with gas stations available every few miles (or oftener), you can probably let your gas tank go down to the 1/4 level before you look for a place to fill up, even if the relevant idiot light is broken as it is in Greg’s Subaru. Out in the boonies, you start looking sooner; e.g., when I was in Fairbanks the rule was to fill up any time you were in town with less than half a tank, because gas stations are few and far between once you leave the city. (There is actually a “Next Gas 117 Miles” sign on one of the highways out of Fairbanks, or at least there was the last time I visited the area.) The cross section of your gas tank may not be symmetric, so in some cases (including my car), when the gauge reads half full you may have used significantly more than half of the gas in your tank.
I’ve also been told that if you are planning to store the car for a while (more than a couple of weeks or so), you should fill the gas tank and add gas stabilizer. Moisture in the tank is a bigger issue under this condition than in a car driven regularly.
@ Eric
interesting – I too have had a Subaru (Impreza) in the past and doing a little research (looking at some old photos) the filler was indeed on the same side as the steering wheel as you state
how odd!!
I currently have a Toyota Landcuiser – and the filler is on the Left (correct according to my “Law”) I also have an Audi and a Peugeot, both follow my “Law” too i.e. having the filler on the right
I wonder why Subaru break convention?
as an aside and in the interests of research I have posed the question on a Subaru forum I am a member of – 🙂
Also in the interests of research, I went out in the parking lot to have a smoke and counted. 28 of 33 vehicles (including the “Cruel Bus”) had the filler on the driver’s side. Clearly, the manufacturers prefer to put it there, but are willing to put it on the other side if they need to for design reasons.
mmm, it seems I may have to re-evaluate my hypothesis
one reason I assumed that safety was a major concern is that I believe statistic show that standing on the hard shoulder of a motorway/freeway is an incredibly dangerous place to be and has a very high mortality rate, so filling a car in an emergency would put you at even greater risk
obviously on the same side is more convenient
but in the UK most cars have it on the driver side – but that is purely due to the fact that most cars on UK roads are imported from Europe where the steering wheel is on the opposite side to the filler
Eric:”tadaa@8: Further anecdata on this: I drive a Subaru that was built in Japan. Since the Japanese drive on the left, your model would predict that the gas tank inlet would be on the left, since cars made in that plant for the domestic market would have right-hand drive. But my Subaru, like Greg’s, has the inlet on the right.”
Actually, Subarus are made in Kentucky or someplace in the US.
“I’ve also been told that if you are planning to store the car for a while (more than a couple of weeks or so), you should fill the gas tank and add gas stabilizer. Moisture in the tank is a bigger issue under this condition than in a car driven regularly.”
This is also a big problem with cars like the Volt, where you may not use gas for months, if your drives are short and the car is always pugged in. Volt drivers I know routinely add stabilizer.
tadaa: “I wonder why Subaru break convention?” Maybe because they are made in the US? Looking forward to the answer! I’ll bet is has to do with balancing the weight left to right!
By the way, having the filler hole on the opposite side of the driver is better because you care less likely to smash the pump with your door when you get out.
On the other hand, having the filler on the right side is safer wrt to traffic, while filling with a container on the side of the road, but on the right, you could fall off the cliff or get bitten by a snake, depending on where you live!
Greg@19: Some Subarus are made in Kentucky, but mine has a VIN starting with J, which means that that particular car was made in Japan. Cars made in the US have VINs starting with 1, 4, or 5. See Wikipedia for the complete list (for most countries, the first two characters are significant).
I drive a 19 year old Ford Ranger (Blanche the Tiny Truck). The gas gauge died about 10 years ago. I was told that repair would be expensive because they have to drop out the gas tank, so I didn’t get it fixed and it always reads empty. So I fill it up, zero the trip odometer, and fill it after I drive 150 miles, which is much sooner than necessary, but that’s OK.
Mary: Better safe than sorry! I hope your odometer keeps working.
Eric I will have to check to see where my Subaru was made!
I once ran out with a full tank. I had bought a used International travel-all which had two tanks (it needed them it was quite the gas-hog). The lever that switched tanks would easily move a centimeter, and that switched gas gauges. But in reality you had to pull hard about 3cm to actually switch tanks. So its midnight during a snowstorm, and it conks out on the road… Had it towed to the shop who told me Iran it out of gas, but, but the gauge said full!
@eric & @greg
after extensive research I am happy to inform you that my hypothesis has “hit the buffers” so to speak
in layman’s terms I am talking rubbish – the evidence is against me!!
although I reserve the right to argue my hypothesis (it is always safer to fill the tank on the “sidewalk” side) is actually correct, but unfortunatly it just does not match reality 🙂
consider this matter closed