2008 Prius Fuel Tank Capacity???

My 2008 Prius holds about 10 gallons with temperatures ranging 35-55 degrees daily. I wish the manual would have said the capacity varies - instead it says the tank holds 11.9 gallons. My wife ran out of gas because we thought that it could go another 100 miles based on the mileage x 11.9 gallons... Grr...

I have been keeping track of this. I live in SF and my tank holds about 10.4-10.6 g's. By the way, I too overestimated my miles/tank and ran out of gas. Interestingly, my car drove the extra mile on its battery to get me to a station to fill it up. 460 miles/tank is about what I expect. The tank alarm (which I love) goes off at around 430 miles.

I dont have a prius but I would believe that having the gas capacity in my car vary 25% would be a little concerning, especially when Im on a road trip. How far will a quarter tank get me? With regular tanks I can get a feel of what that is but when its constantly changing it turns into mathmatical delema.

I wanted a prius but that is a big discouragement. Hopefully they have aftermarket ones that are metal.

Garry:

The dealer lied.

Get used to having a small gas tank during the winter.

Gary

Prius fuel gauge is sometimes called a "guess gauge".

DO NOT run the car down to the last bar on the gas tank, or count on the little flashing "low fuel" light to warn you in time.

Toyota does not brag (or even officially admit) to the inaccuracy of their fuel gauge, but they DO say to refuel the car when the gas
gauge shows 1/4 tank remaining.

I would strongly suggest NEVER allowing the car to go below 2 bars remaining on the fuel gauge.

The good news is that there are some unconfirmed reports of Priuses (Prii?) being able to drive themselves up to two miles on the electric motor alone when the gas engine ran out of fuel.

NOT recommmended!!!!

Probably not. The whole idea of the fuel bladder is to avoid dealing with the fuel vapor problem.

EPA requires that the car recover and burn off all the fuel vapors produced in the fuel tank.

The problem is that with a gas engine that does not run for prolonged periods, the car cannot recycle fuel vapors.

So they use a flexable bladder with no open space for vapors to gather.

I have a 2008 Prius. I live in Southern California, so no worries about temperature. I ran out of gas on the freeway last weekend and the car lost all power. I pulled over, turned the car off, restarted it, and was able to drive to a gas station just off of the battery (about 1 mile away). The empty 11.9 gallon tank only took 10.8 gallons. I would suggest filling up at 420 miles (10.9 gallons * 39 miles per gallon -- conservative).

Steve C. says:
4 days ago
I bought a 2008 Prius in March. Love the car. I have been slowly getting my average MPG up to 47.3 (I have not hit the reset button since I purchased it).
________________________________________________________________________________

Just curious: What effect (other than the obvious) would hitting the reset button have? I hit the reset button last time I filled up (which was the first time I filled up) just because I wanted to track the mileage from fill-up. (I like that display better than the odometer trip display.) My average MPH is about the same as it was before I reset. Is it a bad idea to reset? Thanks.

Jay

hitting the reset button on the "consumption" screen has NO EFFECT whatsoever on the car's operation.

It's just like a resettable trip odometer, it just lets you keep track of your fuel consumption.

I've been renting a 2008 Prius for two weeks while my other car is being repaired after a collision. My car is supposed to be ready in two days and I don't drive that much, so this morning I pumped in $10 of gas (~ 2.6 gallons), but the fuel guage continues to blink like it's almost empty. I know I've got at least another 100 miles of driving before it runs out, but the blinking is worrisome.

My mileage screen has been EXTREMELY accurate. Normally accurate to +/- 2%. But I have to run several tanks of fuel to get a real calibration on the fuel consumption.

Mileage screen seems to be FAR more accurate than either the gas tank display, or the amount of fuel you put in the tank. Especially if there is a major temperature shift between fillups.

If you are not good at math, keep a small calculator with you and divide miles driven by MPG display to find out how much fuel you have REALLY consumed since last fill up.

Just remember that when you fill up in cold weather, your tank is NOT full no matter what the little bars on the dashboard show.

Why are you waiting until the fuel gage is at one bar? The amount of mpg you receive will not change regardless of when you fill the tank. Also, you need to look at results over several fillings and weeks of driving in order to get an AVERAGE return on your gas dollar. As a rule of thumb, filling the tank at two to three bars will have you doing so when the tank is at about 20-25% capacity.

Interesting. I'm considering buying my wife a 08 Prius. While I see much praise for the mileage, I see a lot of complaints about the fuel bladder tank.

Two thoughts come to mind.

1) Gschaut claimed 4 weeks ago that the fuel gauge was, at best, a "guess gauge". I assume the car "knows" how much fuel it has used so that it can calculate mileage based on the same fuel gauge, albeit a different interface to it. But if the gizmo that measures fuel usage is based upon how much fuel WAS in the tank and how much fuel IS NOW in the tank, AND that gizmo is not accurate, then the actual mileage will not be accurate either. To calculate mpg, you need to know: first how many miles, and second, exactly how much fuel was consumed. But if the fuel gauge is not accurate, then the mileage won't be accurate either.

2) If I put 10 gallons in today, and when its empty I can only put 7 gallons in because the fuel bladder is more rigid and won't expand correctly, then I cannot even check what kind of mileage I am actually getting with the car. In other words, there's no way to verify whether or not the car's calculated mileage is accurate.

Thinking of 1 & 2, its entirely possible that the Prius isn't really getting the advertised mileage at all. If the gauge is off by 25%, the mileage could be 25% lower (e.g., 36mpg instead of 48mpg). I might as well buy a Chevrolet Malibu with a fixed tank, 35 mpg, and OnStar !

There are TWO different and totally separate fuel measuring systems in the Prius.

The fuel "guess gauge" is similar to the normal fuel gauge in a car, in that it attempts to measure the fuel level in the tank. The only problem with Prius is that the tank is FLEXABLE and has a VARIABLE CAPACITY. One day the tank holds 12 Gallons, next week it only holds 8 gallons. So the tank level gauge is apocryphal at best.

The MPG mileage gauge is based on a fuel FLOW METER built into the fuel injector system. It measures how much fuel has FLOWED THRU the engine since the last time the MPG meter was reset. The fuel flow meter tends to be accurate within a couple percent. The MPG meter is like the gauge on a gas station pump, it tells exacly how much fuel has flowed thru it.

IF your MPG shows exactly 50.0 mpg at a total distance driven of 325 miles, then you have used up exactly 6.5 gallons since last fill up.

It does not measure how much fuel is left in the tank, but does give a very reliable measurement of FUEL CONSUMED.

IMPORTANT POINT: The Prius is NOT calculating MPG based on the fuel "tank" reading, but on a totally separate measurement of how much fuel has FLOWED from the tank to the engine.

Just one more comment on fuel bladders. Toyota has told me repeatedly that it is "NORMAL" for a rubber fuel bladder to get stiff and ridgid in cold weather.

Having a bit of experience with aircraft, I can tell you that there are THOUSANDS of aircraft fuel bladders in use that stay loose and hold full capacity at 50 DEGREES BELOW ZERO. It gets VERY cold at 35,000 feet, and fuel tanks in wings are NOT insulated.

Toyota is just getting cheap and using an inferior rubber in their fuel bladder, then trying to lie to the consumer.

(Toyota, are you paying attention?)

This problem first cropped up in the 2004 model.

Toyota tried a couple of after-delivery fixes that did not work.

SOP now is to deny that any problem exists.

My first real experience with the Prius came about over the week-end when I rented a 2008 and drove it from Friday until turn in today (Tuesday). I read this thread with interest because we drove 402 miles and I refilled ( ?) the tank with 8.6 gallons which was the auto click off at the nozzle + I rounded it off to the next dollar amount as is my custom. If you do the math to calcuate fuel economy that is ~ 46.75 mpg BUT the screen that shows the running average said 51.3 mpg at fill up. Based on my interpretation of the information here I should more readily believe the 51.3 the car said it achieved rather than my calculations of nearly 47 mpg. I intend to get on the waiting list that is surely there for one of these. What is the consensus of opinion about waiting for the 2009 verses buying a 2008 soon ? I did not know the tank is a bladder...oh the fuel gage just went from 3 bars to 2 just a few miles prior to fill up.

I currently has a love/frightened of relationship with my Prius. I could have only seven gallons of gas, the tank shows full ... so I think I can drive further than I really would be able to. I cannot rely on my gas tank, I have to take unsafe steps to fill it up completely, I have a gas guage that is basically useless and need to guess when I have to fill up!

It appears that Toyota is continuning to manufacture a defective, unsafe product with FULL knowledge of the issue!!! It is unsafe to 1) have to guess how much gas you may have and 2) to go to extreme measures to assure a full gas tank.

I am writing to share my concern over my 2008 Toyota Prius that I purchased new in January of 2008. I recently returned from a 2300 mile road trip that began in Woodland Washington (20 miles north of Portland Oregon).

During this trip, we stopped in Ashland Oregon to fill up the gas tank on our way to Reno Nevada. The attendant filled the tank (Oregon requires that an attendant do this) and off we went ... next gas fill up was to have been Reno! We headed east, turned off Interstate 5 and onto Highway 89 and switched drivers. After ONLY 83 miles ... the gas tank showed that there was less than 1/2 a tank ... luckily we had not missed McCloud California ... last stop for gas for MANY miles!

When we filled up in Reno, the gas pump shut off WAY TOO soon ... we certainly were not getting over 60mpg! Understanding this, we pulled the gas nozzle WAY out and EXTREMELY slowly managed to fill up the gas tank. During this SLOW process, air and gas would bubble up and at times out of the tank. We repeated this process at EVERY fill up along the trip and since we have gotten home. We can have to add between 3 - 6 gallons of gas after the pump shuts off ... no matter how slowly the gas is automatically pumped in. Temperature, time of day and altitude seem to not have any effect on getting the tank filled ... the pump shut off early at EVERY instance. There are at least two safety issues noted here ... a gas tank you cannot fill up with taking EXTROADINARY measures ... nearly removing the nozzle and having gas spill out as the air and gas fumes escape out of the tank.

Another issue is the fuel gauge. The car would travel 200 miles before even one guage indicator would click off. There are 10 indicators and the tank suposedly holds nealy 12 gallons of gas. I bet that the car does not get 200 miles per gallon!!!

I spoke the owner of a 2005 Prius. He indicated he also has challenges filling his tank. He was told that this has to do with the ambient temperature. I have talked with a Toyota Prius technician. He stated that there are no parts that can fix this issue. He noted that this has been going on since the first Prius, that there is no fix available. He also noted in the winter that at least one Prius owner comes in each and every day with this same gas tank concern. I also did some research on the internet and this appears to be a LONG outstanding safety hazard!

More than two cents worth ... but who would have thought Toyota would do this??? I bought this for LONG road trip car, to be reliable and dependable ... not the case ... :-(

Please REPORT your issues!!!

When you report to Toyota Corporate, BBB, your State's Attorney General's Office, NHTSA ... you will get a case or report number!!!

It seems most Prius owners are putting up with the "bladder" explaination and just living with the uncertainly of running out of gas or not ...

I have also kept note of the websites where Prius owners are talking about this safety issue, to share with Toyota Corporate when I call them on Monday ... I have a complaint case number and the DID call me back.

If this would have been a SERVRAL year issue with brakes, do you think it would be still going on? Start as soon as you con ... contact ... Toyota Corporate, BBB, your State's Attorney General's Office, NHTSA ... somthing WILL have to be done!!!

1. Consumer Affairs.com is just a blog board. It is full of rumor and mis-information. Alot by people who hate Prius. Probably Exxon Executives.

2. The fuel tank gauge is a problem, but just a minor inconvenience. Bottom line, don't try to drive around on an empty tank. Do you think the price of fuel is going to go down between now and next Thursday? FIll the tank, dummy!

3. The rumors of Prius failing in snow and slippery conditions are false reports, mostly by people who do not know how to drive!!!

Prius has traction control on the engine, similar to the skid control on brakes. You CANNOT do "donuts" in a Prius, or spin the tires at high speed. When the wheels slip the engine output is LIMITED, not eliminated. The engine DOES NOT "Shut Off" or "Fail" when the wheels slip, the throttle just backs off until the wheels stop slipping.

Note to idiots: Spining the tires in deep snow/mud just gets you stuck deeper. Slow and gentle rocking gets you out of a mud/snow bank.

AND in this respect, Prius ROCKS at rocking itself out of deep snow. There is NO REVERSE GEAR. The car goes in reverse by running the electric motor backwards. So the car lets you shift from drive to reverse to drive to reverse VERY QUICKLY. Far faster than any automatic transmission. The Prius is very easy to get out of a snow bank, IF YOU ARE A COMPETENT DRIVER.

Now the downside: Prius only has FIVE INCHES ground clearance. It is not designed for "off road" use. I have previously been driving trucks and SUV's for 20 years, so it did take a little to get used to not jumping curbs, or diving into mud pits. Just keep the Prius on hard surfaces and it will never let you down.

Well, it is official from Toyota Corporate ... if you do happen to have challenges filling your gas tank ... there is NO fix ... Toyota notes that 6 - 7 gallons at a fill up is normal, what is not normal is being able to acutally fill your gas tank.

I am perosnally astounded and saddened that this design flaw has not yet been corrected.

I do agree with Sherry, the last post, that overall the car seems good. I hope Toyota does take care of the bladder issue so you can have a better idea of how many gallons you can drive on a tank of gas ... not down to fumes, but the difference between 6 or 7 gallons at 45mpg and 10 gallons at 45mpg.

Here is the response from Toyota Corporate ... you will note that they do encourage comments from owners.

Subject
Re: Prius gas tank safety issues

Dear Ms. :
We apologize with your dissatisfaction with the fuel tank bladder in your 2008 Prius.

As your Case Manager explained to you, this is the design of the fuel tank and there is no repair available to change the design.

We appreciate you taking the time to let us know of your dissatisfaction with the fuel tank bladder because the only way we know what our customers are looking for is when they tell us, as you have. We try to scope our customers out in advance, by researching the market, conducting interviews, surveys, focus groups and doing our homework, but there's no better source than a Toyota owner who takes the time to tell us like it is.

We can't guarantee that a change would be made, but if it were, it would be driven by just this sort of honest communication.

We have documented your email at our National Headquarters under file #. If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,

Toyota Customer Experience

I love my Prius but have the same gas tank issues. I would get down to one flashing bar and would only be able to put in 9 gallons. I am a little concerned because I put 12.6 gallons in the tank. I was told it only held 12. ( I live in Florida and it ha been extremely hot.) My consumption stated 41 mpg but when you do the math 398 miles divided by 12.6 g you average 31.6 mpg.

I did not go to school to understand cars or fix them. So maybe I am doing something wrong. I apologize for any misunderstandings that I have about this gas tank. I never even heard of a rubber bladder until 10 minutes ago when I started reading these posts.

Has anyone had AC issues? I bought my in February and as soon as the new car scent went away there was a terrible mildew smell. I am bringing it in for a check up.

I love my prius, near San Francisco. Since November I've always filled up about 9.5 gallons, driving about 10-20 miles after the flashing begins.

This past weekend I did a lot of freeway driving on cruise control and the MPG kept going up up up, so I was happy when I saw 470miles when the flashing went on. (Usually it's about 420 miles). Figured I got an extra 4-5mpg on that tank.

Then I filled up 11.5 gallons!!

So I came online to find out how big the tank is...wondering if I was getting ripped by the station.

But perhaps the guages are just not that accurate.

Andrew

I have a Prius 2008 and just took it on its first long road trip. I was interested to see how the car did. I live in Louisiana and the temp here is at a constant 90 degrees during the summer.
After 573miles averaging 47.8mpg, I finally pulled into a gas station as the gauge switched to the last bar.

HA!!. And here I thought I was alone. The manual says when the last bar flashes, there are about 3 gallons left in the tank (equals about 150 miles for me). Twice I ran out of gas (after about 40-50 miles) - the second time had to be towed cos the whole thing froze. Go figure. It would really help if they would be a tad more specific. Will just have to put more gas when we have 2 bars. Very odd though - after I filled the tank, the fuel indicator is still showing full (after 140 miles) - i usually lose the first bar after 80-100 miles .... do I need to start worrying???

Wow. Thats harsh. Apparently there are a lot of stupid people posting here, including me. Hope this gas issue never happens to you - if it does, remember you are not stupid like us, and it is a vehicle failure.

One thing that a lot of people are missing here is that the gas pumps at various gas stations and from pump to pump can differ considerably. You can blame the bladder, but at least some of the variation is the meter from your gas station (or stations).
My 2008 was delivered at the end of December here in Louisville, KY. Between that cold weather and the warm weather now, I have seen about a 1 gallon variation in the capacity of the tank, long term between cold and hot. However, on rare occasions I have seen a jump up in capacity (11 and 11.2 gallons shown on the pump when I expected to put in 9.75) and one downturn (9.1 when I expected to put in maybe around 10 or so).
Just so you know, out of old habits, I keep my own MPG records in addition to what my Prius tells me. I also fill up as soon as possible after seeing the fuel display go from 2 to 1 bar. I am an engineer by nature as well as by training and employment, just so you know.
What I have found is that those odd excursions had a significant effect on my own MPG calculations, while the Prius kept to its previous range (around 39 in the winter and 43.5 in the summer, based of the driving I do). My conclusion is that I was cheated twice and made out once at the pump. I have also concluded that my Prius reports a MPG figure that is overly optimistic by just under 2% (or gas pumps are "tuned" to give you an average of 2% over the meter, which would surprise me), but that is another matter for another post.
So, I think the bladder does have an effect of capacity as the weather changes, but fuel pump variations are the bigger culprit in the major "changes" in capacity.

Just filled my car yesterday.

The fuel gauge on the dash said I would need about 6 gallons.

The fuel consumption computer said that I would need 4.3 gallons (222 miles driven at 51.7mpg average).

My actual fill up? 4.36 gallons.

Bottom line:

DO NOT EVER TRUST the dashboard fuel gauge. Because of the flexable rubber fuel tank it is TOTALLY unreliable.

Why is everyone waiting until the "guess gauge" shows empty?

Do you think the price of fuel will drop down to $2.34/gal in the next 2 days?

Thought the gas gauge problem was me. Just took a family trip in the 2008 Prius I have had for 2 months and stalled on a very busy I-95 in South Carolina. The gauge went from 3 bars quickly to 2 and then 1 with a warning and immediately stalled. Waited for a tow truck who added a gas can's worth - about 1.5 gallons. Car still wouldn't start. He added another and then had to jump-start us.

Worked great the rest of the trip and I have been able to add enough gas to what I think fills the tank - about 11+ gallons. Though at 2 bars I am sure to gas up.

Filled it up last night. When I started the car this morning it gave me the Add Fuel warning. Went to a gas station to make sure and could only add a gallon. Still says Add Fuel and shows 1 blinking bar. Had to leave it at home because I can't risk stalling.

I know it has at least 11 gallons in it. Looks like I'll be visiting the nearest Toyota dealer.

Long road trip in a Prius that had about 3k miles of city driving. We drove it another 3k on the highway- besides the issue of it showing a full tank after traveling almost 200 miles, there were no issues, solid the whole way... except for the last 50 miles. We were consistently going to about 400-450 miles between fillups. On the final stretch, we had gone about 450- we were about 2 miles from a gas station, going 65 on the highway. The gas gauge went from two bars to one bar (which I gather from the above means "3 gallons left")... anyway, at one bar, it started blinking, and at the same time, the "check engine", "malfunction", "mean red exclamation point" etc all came on, and here's the fun part- the engine went dead. In the left lane. On I-5. Yeehaw.

Luckily, we were able to glide over to the shoulder. We waited a bit, and the car restarted, using both the gas and electric. Went to the gas station, and based on how much the car took, the bladder should have had 1.5 gallons in it when the engine shut off. (After reading this forum, however, who knows. Guess Gauge.)

Explained the problem to the Toyota dealer this week. They're comments- "Yeah, it shows full when it may not be full", and "Fill it up when it gets to two bars, or else risk having it do that again." No fix, no sympathy, no safety concern in their eyes (that they would publicly state for obvious reasons). I think it's a serious issue. If the car goes empty when it's not, or if you're driving in BF, Nowhere and it's 200 miles between fillups, and ESPECIALLY if the car decides to shut off when you're driving down the highway with a gauge telling you that you have gas, but A- maybe you don't, or B- maybe you do, but the engine might shut off anyway.

It's sad, but I guess there will have to be deaths/lawsuits involved before the cost/benefit of doing a recall or fix is forced upon Toyota. I just hope it's not me doing the dying/suing to prove to Toyota this is worth addressing.

I have never been able to put more than 9 gallons and some into the tank on fill up, but i have been generally running it to empty on the last 3 tanks. Today was my best mpg average at the end of a tank of 56 mpg, and 535 miles, spaced over a 17 day period. That's also a good decent mix of highway and city and kind of hilly country back roads. So now after reading how inaccurate the final blinking bar may be i may stop running it to empty.

I agree. Having some understanding of driving the car according to its abilities is the key. Long ago I learned that the car runs as well on the first half of the tank of gas as it does on the last half, so, fill it when it is down to half a tank.
We bought a 2004 Prius and love it. We go from the Pacific Northwest to Kansas City each year to visit relatives, and it is a great road car. It has not failed to hold the speed limit on the plains (75 MPH speed limit) and over the mountains (unless traffic doesn't permit speed-limit travel).
Last year we added a 2007 Prius and it is holding up the tradition. No problems or complaints.
I have noticed that the slope of the drive where I fuel has a lot to do with how the gauge works, how good a fill I get, etc. I drive my wife nuts scoping out the lay of the drives so I get a location with the tank door on the highest point of the car (left rear high, right front low). In Oregon, having moved here from Washington last year, the attendant by law has to do the pumping of gas, so I never know what the technique is going to be. Getting the car positioned the best I can is a big help. Sometimes I have to go against the arrows on the drive, but I figure that is a price I have to pay. People think I am just a fool, but so what.

Bought my Prius in April 05, 68,650 miles to date. I've tracked every drop that has gone into the car. In New England (cold winters) I average 7.9 gal per fillup. Does seem a bit less in the winter, more in the summer. At two bars I fill up. One shouldn't run any car too low, but a pseudo-digital gas gauge seems to produce that behavior in a lot of people. Having always driven small, inexpensive cars that got about 35 mpg I knew I wasn't going to save money with this car, but bought it to have the most advanced drive train on the planet and make a statement about high mileage. By the way in the warm weather I'm staying below 60 mph (right lane, thank you) and getting over 60 mpg of that $4.00 per gallon stuff. Since I bought the car, I've averaged over 50. And it would be a nice car even at 30 mpg, though I would never have bought it were that the case.

I'm looking forward to the day my ordered Prius finally arrives. There does appear to be a difference in mileage from winter to summer, but that seems to be due to the use of the electric heater. If you run the heat in the car at a moderate level, and at a moderate fan speed, then more energy from the battery pack will be used to power the engine rather than the supplemental electric heater. Being the engine doesn't run all the time, it's hard to heat the cabin just from engine heat. That's why you hear an electric motor after you shut the car off. It's pumping the coolant from the engine to a thermal devise to try and keep it warmer for a longer period of time. It pumps it back to the engine when you then re-start your car. I appreciate everyone talking about the bladder, & I intend to fill up at no less than 2-3 bars.

There are other tricks to help increase mileage in the winter, much like truckers. We've all seen 18 wheelers with the front grill covered. A less obnoxious way would be to fill the grill with insulation foam "Toyota actually recommends this in some publication that I read" to keep the coolant warmer, and therefore less dependant on the supplemental electric heater. In this way, energy from the battery can be used to propel the car increasing your mileage. It's called "Grille Blocking"

I'd be interested to see if anybody has tried this, and obtained better fuel mileage.

Interesting thread. I don't own a Prius but was an engineer on a project to design a kit to make a Prius into a plug-in hybrid so I've driven one a lot. I hadn't noticed the fuel tank problem, but it was summer. BUT I do have a Toyota FJ Cruiser. That's a ridgid tank, I think - I'll have to research that. IThe fuel gauge is spot on though.

But although it's supposed to be an 18 gallon tank the fuel pump likes to click off about 1.5 gallons short of full. Being an anal engineer who checks mileage (my BMW motorcycle gets 46mpg consistantly) I always filll up. What is happening with the FJ is that the fill pipe that Toyota uses is fairly small in diameter and follows a really torturous route. With high speed gas pumps you end up with a lot of air in the tank. It takes a bit of slow filling after the initial shut off to fill the tank.

What I'm reading about a lot of air escaping from the tank makes me think that the Prius is doing a similar thing as my FJ.

I would recommend that you only use about half speed when you all fill your Prius(es?) and see what happens. This might reduce the amount of air pumped into the tank.

I was going to say that there is no reason why a polymer tank would act differently in cold weather. Then I remembered the Challenger. It sure is a design flaw. I'm surprised they haven't changed materials. I wonder why not?

Funny my car goes 10.5 gas in winter, he is right you just have to be patient and do it again. I was a bit confused when it first happened. once the bladder has been used a couple of times it works just fine. and its better than when your going up a hill on a regular tank when your almost empty.

I have a 2007 Prius, and have compared my calculated gas mileage to the displayed mileage many times over the last year. I have consistently found only a 1-2 mpg difference. Friends with the older model Prius say they have had discrepancies with their calculated mileage, but I don't seem to have that problem. I (though I also live in the "thick, hot" air of California - ha ha!) have always gotten 48-53 mpg on the highway, even with the a/c on.

I also wondered if anyone knew the approximate gas level when the "Add fuel" warning comes up. It happened to me unexpectedly as I was climbing to a rather high elevation (thus much lower mpg), but thankfully got down the mountain to a gas station on electric and never ran out of gas completely.

Hitting the reset button causes all the numbers that are kept in memory to be reset back to 0. So, if you want to make the value of your car increase, hit this button RIGHT before you sell it, and your odometer will reset to 0.

I found I have two odomoeters ... and EACH time, when I hold the ODO button in, the miles reset to 0 ... I wonder if Toyota knows about this?????? This means when I sell the car, I can make it look like there's no miles .... i.e., 0, OR, what I'll probably do is set it to 0 and then drive it for about 3,000 and then say that the car has a total miles of 3,000 on it ...

Toyota SCREWED up ROYALLY!!!!

I do not own a prius, but only 6 gallons?
that seems quite small a volume.

of course, considering it is a hybrid, I can see the logic, but still.

so you fill up your tank for, say, $25?

lucky!

I agree with Guy there. 300 to even 500 gallons sound pretty good to me. I don't own one but my Grandfather does and he loves it. I wish I could have one. I would probably be able to go a whole month without having to fill up. I get about 28 mpg highway in my Honda Odyssey. I can't really complain with that. Take what you can get and fill at a 1/4 tank. Stop whining. Or just trade it.

FYI - i have a 2009 Prius and i'm having the same problem. there was no "fix" in the 2009 models. i'm glad i found this site. i didn't know anything about the flexible bladder tank.

i kept driving with the blinking box thinking i had 3 gallons left as stated in the owners manual and almost ran out of gas on the highway. i went to the dealership maintanence shop to ask why my range is so much less then expected and they said nothing about the flexible bladder.

their own maintenance people don't seem to know about the tank.

I have a new '09 and have experienced this $%$##@ problem with the tank. I got the car from the dealer with a full tank. I was only able to drive 400 miles even though the indicator said I was getting 46 mpg. When I went to the gas station I could only fill 5.3 gallons. I thought that was quite odd. I called the dealer and I was told by the service advisor to not let the tank get below 1/3. I almost busted out laughing when I heard that. What a load of BS. If that was the case Toyota would have the warning light go off at the 1/3 level. This is just laughable and an extreme example of a really bad design. No customer should have to put up with this crap. I was even told that certain gas stations work better than others and that certains days or times of the day make a difference, oh and we have to only get gas on blue moons!!!!

i got my 2009 just last months,i have all the same experience with all the above,but i just wonder anyone get the answer to solve the problem.file to the court or any department ????anyone could email me the answers or posted.let whoever been sufer the problem can be done.thank you very much???

I bought a 2008 Prius in December of 2007 in Tenn. where we live 6 months of the year. For the first 10 MONTHS & 10,000 miles I had no problem purtting gas in the fuel tank, consistenely putting in 8-9 gals after traveling 400-450 miles. This I did in various outside temperatures from 20oF up to 60oF in Dec. & Jan. In Feb. we went to upstate NY for 3 weeks where the temperatures were much COLDER!!! I never experienced any problems, gas going into the tand FLAWLESSLY! All of a sudden, in Sept. I started having trouble filling up, nozzle sutting off at 5 gals when I knew it should take more,so I nursed the rest into the tank. Then the gas would shoot up at me when I removed the nozzlle. I went to the Toyota Dealership and was THEN handed a paper explaining the "bladder" system gas tank. This was the first I was informed about this type of fuel tank. I've been calling the 1-800 number that the dealership gave to me after I complained that I was happy with their explanation of why they couldn't fix my problem. I've received only one call back form the customer service in Cal. stating that someone else would be calling me back. That was 3 weeks ago. As of this writing, I am STILL WAITING!!!!
I think we have been DECEIVED by this Giant Auto Maker by not telling us about the FLAW DESIGN in their fuel tanks BEFORE buying a car in fear of losing a sale!!!!
I have 2 questions I would like someone to answer:
I. How can a gas tank "work" perfectly for 10 months in all types of weather and then all of a sudden have this problem?
2. How wide spread it this problem?

I just bought a 2009 Prius and am having the same problem. Only filled it up twice, first time took 7.6 gal, second time 7.1 gal. I'm not happy about this at all. The service dept of my dealership was clueless about it (or pretending to be in ordered to sweep it under the rug). This is very bad engineering. Surprising considering how well the rest of the car was thought out.

By the way, for those of you who are trying to ascertain your MPG on a tank of fuel from the multi-function display - you're wasting your time. The MFD is only a computer estimation. The ONLY accurate way to calculate MPG is by dividing the total number of miles driven on a tank of gas by the number of gallons to fill it back up.

I bought a used 2004 Prius about 2 months ago and love it. Im on my 6th tank. Each tank I have run past the flashing 1 bar about 20-30 miles. Each filling I fill slowly and go to two clicks on the pump. It has taken between 9.8-10.4 gallons. I was averaging about 53.5 mpg so I was getting about 500-540 miles per tank. Now that I am getting the hang of pulse and glide I am showing 64 mpg and am already over 450 miles with 3 bars remaining. I expect to go to 650 miles on this tank. For me the bladder tank is working great. accurate fuel flow sensors and bladder tanks - airplane technology!

My wife has an '06 with 49K miles. She drives 120 miles roundtrip to work 2-4 times a week. Even with my occassionally driving we consistently show 46-48.2 mpg on the screen. Historically gas added at fill-up seems to match mileage driven at that mpg.

For 2 years everything was fine including going thru 2 Houston winters (not real cold). No problems with gauge reading or fill volume.

2 weeks ago when we were down to 3 PIPs it only took about 5.5 gal (about 1 less than expected) but gauge showed full when filling finished. Since then the gauge drops very fast (to 2-3 PIPs in 250 miles vs about 375 before) and can only refill with about 5.5 gal. - this suggests that we're getting about 47mpg and the tank's capacity has shrunk. No change in driving habits or in average mpg on display. Have given the filler a 10 second rest and then started again with only a few cents additional going in so I'm sure it's full. Temperature here recently has been between 45 and 80, fillups have generally been when it's been over 55.

After 3 refills with the same behavior, we took the car to a local dealer today and they reported no problem on computer diagnositics. We have an extended warranty that should cover tank or sensor problems, but the dealer says they can't find anything to fix.

We will try filling when gauge gets to half a couple times and see if there's any improvement.

I think this problem is much more serious than most who have posted on this page. It is only a matter of time before someone is killed by this design defect. Either by the car stopping in traffic and causing a serious accident, or by someone walking from the car to get more fuel.

I have owned my new 2008 Prius for 4 months. When the weather changed in the past month, temperature dropping to the freezing point, I have noticed the following:

1 - I have run out of gas two times
2 - The amount of gas that goes into the vehicle is much less than manufacturer specifications
3 - The low gas warning light that per specification should be 3 gallons is under a gallon

The fuel display is grossly inacurate and there is no reliable way to know how much fuel is in the Prius nor how many miles you have before needing to refuel. If you want to refill your car at random intervals, then this is the car for you. If you expect a car that has reliable mileage and capacities, this is not a good car to own.

I ran out of gas today when I thought I had at least another 100 miles to go before empty based on history and previous mileage estimates. Same thing happened a couple of weeks ago but it was easier to get gas. Today I was stranded literally in the middle of no where. This seems to be a serious design flaw.

I plan on presenting this to the dealer tomorrow and asking for a refund. I cannot drive a car that I have no confidence in fuel consumption. I regularly got 600 miles to the tank during warm months, and have run out of gas at 450 miles on two occasions. Take all the variations in gas stations you want, but no car should have 25% variations in fuel consumption or capacity.

It is only a matter of time before somebody dies because of this fundamental defect. I will start with the dealer to get a refund then continue with the NTSB and state lemon laws to get my money back.

Although I love the car, Toyota has created a safety hazard unless you are willing to refill at unpredictable intervals.

I just leased a 2009 Prius 2 Fridays ago. When they gave me the car it was full, after a little over 200 miles I was down to 1 bar so I had to fill up the tank for the first time. I was astounded that the tank only took 7 gallons. So... I started to investigate the actual tank size of the car which led me to this blog. I am totally DISGUSTED! I traded in a 2006 Civic hybrid for this prius and now I want my old car back in the worst way. I am one of those numbskulls that runs the gas down until the light comes on then I fill up. I know it is bad but it is my bad habit! However, I swear to all that is holy the first time I run out of gas with 2 "bars" on my gas gauge I am going postal on the dealership.

Seriously, I don't know that laws in MD but do I still have any chance at returning the car?? I really investigated the Prius and I never encountered anything about this gas tank issue and I am terrified about running out of gas late at night or something. This blows!

Ran out of gas on a dark, long deserted road with my 4 year-old daughter tonight!

I didn't believe what the gas gauge because of its trend of inaccurate fuel indicator. Last block blinked at 250 miles from a full tank. How ridiculous is that?! This is San Francisco driving in the mild winter season when the car has never been in snow or below 40F.

I've been observing a decrease in _tank capacity_ in the last few fill ups. The last block starts to blink sooner and sooner. Blinking starts out around 360, then down to 330 or so then below 300 then 275. When it blinked at 270, I drove around for another 40 miles before filling up the tank with 7 gallons! The indicator bars went all the way to the top. So when it blinked at 250, I didn't believe it. I drove around till it surprisingly ran out of gas at 330.

The computer display showed a 40.9 mpg efficiency when it ran out of gas. How did they do the math? 330 miles for 10 gallons would be 33 mpg. 40mpg should've gotten me at least 380 miles without a problem.

My car has been consistently getting at least 40mpg with the same type of hill and freeway driving ever since I bought it in 2006. It's got about 22K miles on the car in 2 1/2 years.

How could I run out of gas at 330 miles?!

Bottom Line:

Toyota deserves to get egg on their face for not being honest about this. I too have called and they claim to know nothing about this. They obviously do. Do they think we don't know how to use the internet? If you fill up at 2 bars, you "might" be ok, but it still negates the purpose of having a car with great mileage so you DON'T have to fill up often. Further, do you fell safe having your wife/daughter driving the car with the ASSUMPTION they'll be ok? I don't. Toyota, you've just lost a loyal customer with how you've handled this. SPREAD THE WORD! THIS IS WHAT TOYOTA THINKS OF YOU! LIARS!!!!

I have a 2005 Prius, and I have had pretty much the same problem as the everyone above--except, through dumb luck, haven't run out of gas yet. And, the service department at my local dealer (in Montana where it does get cold), got exactly the same "no problem" run-around as everyone else has reported.

I too am a victim of this bladder tank. Really old men often have bladder and dribble problems, but there is NO excuse for a new car having the problems that a Prius does in cold weather. Since Toyota has no intention of recalling them until several people die, does anyone know of pending lawsuits that can be expanded to class action suits for all owner/victims of this scam?

My Prius has only been holding about 8.5 gallons this winter. Temperatures vary quite a bit here but it's been in the 40s and 50s for a while. I was going to try to push a tank past the limit - call its bluff so to speak. Glad I googled it first! Some friends and I had just been joking about how it would be kind of ironic to run out of gas in a Prius (sorry some of you had to do it - thanks for sharing what you learned). I've also found that my mileage is a bit lower in the winter when I'm running the heat. Still enjoying the car though! I almost have my boyfriend converted to a hybrid lover - which is huge since he doesn't even want power windows in his car...

You don't really need to use a trip odometer, the mileage display in the center console display resets itself to 0 every time you fill up.

What you DO need to do, is hit the reset button to reset the average mileage to 0. so that you get an accurate mileage reading for THAT tank full of gas. The "miles driven" resets to 0 when you fill up. but the average MPG reading holds over from fill-up to fill-up until you reset it manually. Lets you get average mileage reading for longer trips with multiple tanks of gas.

Can't help but laugh at all the people here who have been taken for a proverbial ride. So what if you can only get 6-7 gallons of gas in the tank. It lets you know when you need to fill up. The gas gauge shows the ratio of gas left in the car. Even at 300 miles per tank (what I get on 6 gallons), that is the same or more than many cars on the road. Don't listen to the lawyers at consumeraffairs, they are just out there to try and scare people into filing a class action lawsuit. This is a great, reliable car. My next car will be another Prius. Side note: it was just rated one of the most reliable family cars on the road by Car and Driver!

I just purchased a used 2005 prius with 63,000 miles. I drove it a couple hours home from the dealership and the mpg gauge read that I was averaging 41-43 mpg. When I went to go fuel the car, it wouldn't accept any gas and when I finally got gas to go in (by not inserting the fuel nozel all the way in), it spit gas back at me. The day started out at -12 and ended at 12. I hit the reset button after only being able to fill the tank 1/2 way. The car then read that I was only averaging 35 mpg. Did I ourchase a lemon? Why is my mpg so low???

I just filled up my 2009 Prius for the first time today and I quickly learned one thing about it - don't pay attention to the gas pump shutting off as an indicator as to having a full tank. I went to the station with 2 bars remaining on my gague (which, after reading this forum I probably won't let it get that low anymore) and began pumping gas. 41 cents later, the gas quit pumping. I began pumping gas again. 13 cents later, it shut off again. This happened again three or four times with far less than a gallon being pumped in each time before the gas pump shutting off. Finally I started pumping gas in at very slowly and was able to coax 9.3 gallons into my car. I was unsure about how large the gas tank was (and didn't want to go back out to my car to look it up because it was storming outside and I don't have a garage) I found this site saying that the approximate capacity is 11.9 gallons. Seeing that the fuel gauge obviously isn't accurate, I can't really know how many gallons were left in the tank when I began filling it up, but at the time 9.3 gallons seemed "about right."

I know that many people are against "topping off" the tank, but I wonder if the problem with not being able to get more than 6 or 7 gallons in when the fuel gauge says they're on empty is a combination of a contracting fuel bladder and the gas pump "thinking" that your car is already full when it's really not.

Just finished talking to Toyota about my 2007 Prius gas tank. For the first 2 years, I could often get 11 gallons in the tank. Starting last winter, the max I can get in is 8.3 gallons - on a hot day when I have driven greater than 100 miles and topped off the tank and let it get down to 1 flashing bar. I have had it to the dealer 2 times but they said everything is working fine - sensors etc. Just finished talking to Toyota company rep - and was told that it is "normal" and that "you don't have a problem". I guess they don't have a problem but I DO have a problem as I live in Montana - a cold state where I drive long distances and the gas stations close at night in rural areas. Although this is not a "problem", it has been fixed on the latest mode. I was told I could go to arbitration but would lose as it is "normal" and "you don't have a problem." Any thoughts?

Something that may only interest me: I've noticed the first bar on my gauge is about 3 gallons. After I get below half a tank, each bar seems to be a gallon or less.

I think that the fuel gauge is just informative, sometimes a bit too "informative" :)

I have a 2006 Prius and I have filled it up to 11.24 with gas to spare. I do know that i do not stop filling when the pump stops because it usually stops 2 to 3 gallons or more short of full. Know being in southern California, I don;t know how relevant this will be to those in colder climates but on average temperatures above 55 degrees, I haven't noticed an issue.

I've waited far longer and have even driven 15 miles farther just to fail at filling it up once again. Obviously, one has no way of knowing how many miles you can get out of the darned thing. Otherwise, I love the car.

Snowier roads mean less mpg. Colder temps mean less mpg. Winter gas means less mpg.

My mileage dropped to 45ish at the coldest part of the winter so far. But our winter gas isn't so bad, we don't have E10, and I keep the heater set at 68F.

It's just the way the car is. My method is just to try to refill the tank with about as many gallons as the consumption screen shows I've used. The pump usually clicks off 0.5 to 1 gallon before that number. I slowly squeeze in the rest.

Because it costs $8,000 to $12,000 for the upgrade. That means I'd have to save, at the current average price of $2.70/gal, 3,000 to 4,500 gallons of gas to break even. At 50mpg, that would require 150,000 to 225,000 EV miles to break even.

I don't think the economics are quite there yet.

Company bought used 2008 Prius. To our surprise there was no operators manual. Where can one be found on line?

Have a 2001 Prius with over 200,000 miles with no problems.

You are are wrong the tank holds 13 gallons. I don't know what you are smoking, becuase mine always takes 11 gallons when the add fuel light comes on.

2008 Prius owner.

I think you are blowing the problem out of proportion. I have no problem putting +300 miles on a tank and before it drops down to two bars. How many roads do you drive where you don't see a gas station for 300 miles?

I've had an 08 Prius for two years now. 40k miles on it. Boston native. Mileage is definettely better in the summer and worst in winter. I attribute the winter mileage deficiency to the use of the heater compared to the use of the air conditioner in the summer. You probably have noticed that the engine will run if the heater is on and the car is in park. I also heat up the car in the morning so that obviously kills the mpg.
My wife ran out of gas today for the second time since we've had the car. The math is pretty simple. 45 mpg with an 11.9 gallon tank should get you approx. 540 miles. I've never gotten over 500 miles to a tank and have never put in more than ten gallons. Other than that, we love the car.
Summer mpg=50
Winter mpg=45

And again, our consolation is that a Prius with only 28 liters takes us as far as a monster SUV with a 100+ liter tank. Which fill-up would you rather pay for?

After reading many of these posts, I have decided one thing: people like to complain.

I was also unaware of how much gas my tank could actually hold and that is was a "bladder" and not a solid tank like most other vehicles. But, who really cares? I'm still happy I bought my car. The fact of the matter is that the tank is going to hold atleast 8 gallons so just fill up at 300 miles or so and get over it.

I live in Connecticut and bought my Prius in October of last year. I never noticed this. I usually wait until the fuel light is blinking to fill it, which is at about 430 - 450 miles, and it usually takes about 9.5 to 10 gallons, which is what I would expect for an 11ish gallon tank.

Bottom line - winter was cold in Connecticut and I have a long commute to Massachusetts every day. No change in my fuel tank capacity whatsoever between now and last December.

My wife and I picked up a used 2007 Prius 3 days ago. On the day that I bought it, I filled it up with 11.12 gallons while on the last bar of the gauge. Right now my trip odometer is on 104 miles, and it is still reading full. I live in southern central Florida, so I never turn off my AC. I was also amazed at how good the mileage is while using the cruise. I'll post back to let you know how much I get out of the tank. But so far, I'm glad that I let my wife talk me into buying this car!

I agree - this is definitely a flaw.

The dealer / service guys keep telling me I am filling the tank wrong, using poor quality gas, or the tire pressure is low - Pu-lease! If only they would be honest... (I have been filling up at the same gas station for two years, just got new tires and the problem just popped up.)

I had a 2005 Prius for 3 years before passing it on to my daughter and have had a 2008 Prius for more than 2 years now. I have never had a problem with the gas gauge and never ran out of gas until I tried this week to challenge her. She got 525 miles and I saw the red exclamation point for the first time as I was cruising up to the pump. It took 11.03. I checked out this site because I was curious about the tank size. I live in Michigan and have noticed that more than the amount of gas the tank will hold in different seasons, the mileage varies considerably--37 average in winter for me and 48 in the summer. Not a problem, just interesting.

I have read from priuschat forum that there is really some issues about the fuel tank of Prius. Unfortunately, you cannot overfiil it because it will definitely leak from the fuel cap. Anyways, I think Toyota had mentioned that it is not recommend to fill your prius fuel tank because it will definitely rip you off since it can damage the fuel system of the car. Anyways, I do know that almost all hybrids have issues about the fuel system. Maybe they will develop a more improve system in the near future.

And in response to SEVERAL complaints above...

I REALLY cannot understand the logic of running the car's fuel tank dry?

All these complaints about "My fuel gauge said there was still 1/8 of a gallon of fuel left, and the car ran dry".

HELLO OUT THERE... Why didn't you fill the car up when it got below 1/4 tank???

Do you think fuel prices are going to suddenly drop to $.50 a gallon next week???

FILL THE TANK!!!!!!

That is HORRIBLE mileage!! Never heard a prius that bad. Have you tried changing the aux battery, or has it always been like that? Do you let it run alot before driving? The Gen 2 (nhw20) actually gets better city mileage than the gen 3 (vzw30). Something wrong there.

I have an 07 prius and when the gauge blinks empty i can only get 8.5 gal. and I live in Los Angeles. I fill it up and the temp. doesn't change anything.
Whats the point of misstating capacity?

Well after reading many posts, not all cause there's so many, I at least know it's not a detrimental defect, I thought I got a Lemon and was going to take it in while under warranty still. I just got my new, used, 2005 prius and was wondering why my gauge was going down quickly. It's December now in PA and the temps range from 10-30 degrees. I can live with it since I do the bulk of my driving in the summer and half as much in the fall and spring. Plus the additives that are put in gas in the winter affect your mileage too.

i bought a 2008 used about a week ago. dealer topped it off and it said i was getting about 40 miles to the gallon. but the trip meter said i dove only about 260 miles when it started flashing to fill up. filled it up again and got right at 11 gallons in it. says that im now averaging about 37 miles to the gallon . but my trip meter is only showing that i have drove only 180 miles and i have 3 bars left on the fule gauge. the mpg is there but its not showing it on the trip meter. ?????

Eot wrote:
" If I put 10 gallons in today, and when its empty I can only put 7 gallons in because the fuel bladder is more rigid and won't expand correctly, then I cannot even check what kind of mileage I am actually getting with the car. In other words, there's no way to verify whether or not the car's calculated mileage is accurate."

You can actually verify it with simple math, if you know you put 10 gallons in and ran it to empty then all you have to do is divide the total miles driven on that tank by 10 to get the MPG and the next time you run it to empty you would divide by 7, the number of gallons you put in you put in the second time. Also the Prius does not calculate the mpg based on the gas in the tank, it calculates the mpg based on the rate at which fuel flows through the fuel line into the engine, thus the car will get the same mpg (dependent on your individual driving style) whether you put 1 gallon of fuel in or 10 gallons of fuel in.
Lastly, the fuel gauge tells you how much the bladder is inflated, whether it be fully expanded on a hot day or contracted on a cold day. The bladder can be fully inflated while having a lesser total volume, and as such the gauge will read full at a lesser volume than stated in the owners manual. An easy way to make sure you don't run out of gas is to use the average mpg readout function by resetting it every time you fill up, fill the tank all the way up every time and multiply the mpg from the last tank by the number of gallons you put into the tank this time to get an estimated total mileage for your next tank. It might be a little annoying, but it's a small price to pay for the ability to drive 500+ miles on $28 of gas.

I have noticed this fuel gauge thing lately also. Just today I gassed up when it showed 3 blocks and it only took just short of 6 gallons. Mine is also a 2008 Prius. I'm glad I don't have to replace a sensor or something. It's all just shrinkage.

I am taking our 2009 Prius in tomorrow so they can take another look, but after reading these comments I'm not to optimistic that they'll do anything for us...I wish the tech would have educated me the last time I brought it in (about the bladder etc).

I'm pretty sure that our gas level indicator was more representative of the amount of fuel remaining when we first got the car...I may have to accept this as normal but I don't have to be happy about it. I don't think it's too much to ask that an indicator like this, with 10 equal size bars, to represent the fuel level proportionally (ie: 2 out of 10 bars means 2 tenths...2/10ths of a tank....3 bars means 3/10ths etc). It seems misleading...the way this thing operates they might as well just have 3 bars!

You are looking at trip meters, not the odometer. I have trip meters and odometer. The odometer does not reset. It says 44K. I own a 2007 Prius.

We have a 2004 Prius and we live in Vermont. We have seen the tank size change seasonally over the years. It is aggravating, but not a problem. We regularly run the tank down to the first bar and until the "fill up soon" warning comes on. We have NEVER run out of gas. Although the tank size varies, the tank guage works just fine.

I LOVE HYBRID CARS SOOOOO MUCHHHH <3 X0X0X

I drive an 06 Prious. I have run out of gas 4 times now. That's bad enough, but the bigger issue is that after the car runs out of gas, it won't start, even after I put gas in it.

3 times I had to call Tripple A. Twice they had to tow it. One time we put 7.5 gallons of fuel in the tank before the car would start. I don't know what the problem is but I speculate there is a sensor that prevents the car from attempting to start if it does not detect fuel, and that sensor is faulty.

I now fill up the tank when I I guess it is about half full. The fuel guage is completely useless.

Hack again?!

I have a 2008 Prius, just bought it used. Got a half tank for $10. After driving it for 6 days I saw the gas gage on it's last bar so I put in $9. After driving for 20 min the gas gage still did not go up. Nervous about the comments to not let your car run out of gas I pulled over and put in another $5, still the gas gage hasn't gone up. Any other problems like that? I know sometimes it takes a few min to register that it had gas put in but more than 25 min? I don't remember it doing that when I filled it up the first time.

I have had a 2009 Prius for two years, about 25,000 miles and never had a problem until recently. I have read through this thread and my problem is similar but not quite like the one experienced here.

A few weeks ago I noticed I had driven 160 miles over 4 separate trips and the gas gauge still read that it was full. Odd, I thought. The gauge eventually caught up and dropped down. No big deal in the long run.

But today's experience really scared me. I left the house with 2 bars. A mile later it was down to 1 bar; 5 miles later the gauge started flashing but THE ALARM DID NOT GO OFF. I just happened to notice the flashing. In the past when it has gotten this low, the alarm has gone off. It didn't go off this time. Doesn't seem that anyone else has had this particular problem.

I filled up and drove, about 80 miles today in several separate trips. Gas gauge still reads as full. Alarm beeped a few times while I was driving, and while the gauge read full. That really freaked me out! I can understand flexible bladder...ok... but suddenly the alarm does not work, and then it malfunctions and goes off while the tank is full?

To the people ridiculing others for waiting to fill up the tank... In my case it is not because I'm hoping to find cheaper gas, but because stopping to get gas is time consuming and I shouldn't have to do it 3 times for each so-called "tank" of gas, getting only a few gallons at a time. Fill up the tank, drive it until the warning light comes on, then fill up again. Has worked for me for 2 years. Not sure what I'll do now.

I have a 2008 Prius with 39000 miles that I purchased new. It has always had the bladder problem but I have not been able to get the dealer or Toyota to do anything about it. Last week I ran out of gas and I had no warning at all. No blinking gas gauge, no audible alarm, no message on display. 12V battery was completely dead. Car had to be towed and it cost me $155 to have them recharge battery and reset computer.

They said there was no reason for them to believe the alarm did not go off. In other words, they are calling me a lier. But that alarm did not go off and the guage did not blink.

After reading hundreds of posts on this site and others about the bladder problem, I really am surprised that there has not been a class action suit.

Sure the Prius is an amazing car but they are not exactly cheap and the gas bladder problem is more than an inconvenience. In my case, if it had died like this with no warning just 12 hours previous, I was on a long, dark, steep, winding road in the mountains and I surely would have been hit from behind with a dead unlighted vehicle.

As a matter of safety, Toyota should fix this problem and stand behind their product.

I have ran out of gas on the freeway with an 09 prius, you can get about 4 miles on electric dependent on how fast you drive etc.

I l
agree with
I have had this problem since driving it over 100,000 miles I have complained about this. Understand the new Prius have done away with blader tank. A recall and fix would should be available. When driving out west thu Wyoming I never pass up a gas station.
Toyota has not been honest