My 2014 Jeep Wrangler has a dashboard “miles till empty” display.
Now, I tend to hold my breath as I approach a gas station, since I usually fill-up when I’m on fumes. Currently my yellow “almost empty” light is on and my “miles till empty” says 49 miles. I’m averaging 20.6 mpg (another dashboard readout).
Is it likely I’d make it 40 miles without disaster?
Absolutely. In fact, you could probably go at least 60. I hate stopping for gas and ideally coast in on fumes and die at the pump and I’ve never seen a car that does not give you a bit of wiggle room.
Why would it lie?
Most car tanks, in my experience, have 2 gallons left in them when the fuel light goes on. How many miles that is depends on your mileage, road conditions, driving style, etc.
That said, it drives me fucking crazy when people drive until the car is running on empty. My dad did this when I was a kid and we were going on vacation to the cape and we’d invariably get stuck in traffic. Gave me anxiety to the point that I never let my tank go below a quarter.
It’s going to vary but generally I’d say you will get at least 40 miles.
Keep in mind that fuel pumps are often/usually cooled by fuel and tend to overheat and wear when they suck air.
It “lies” because you aren’t going to be upset when you make it to the gas station on time.
Why are people so worried about running out of gas? Me ex-boyfriend was hyper-anxious about this happening, but he admitted that he had NEVER run out of gas. I tried to get him to just do it on purpose once to see that it was not that bad, but you’d think I was trying to get him to jump out of an airplane with no parachute.
Sure, there are some bad times to run out of gas, but does your worry extend to learning about and scrupulously maintaining your car in every other respect? He had no actual idea about how his car functioned and did not worry about checking his tires, oil, etc., which could cause similarly dangerous problems, but he was obsessed with not running out of gas.
I’ve let my Dodge mileage display go to “0 miles till empty” but I was getting worried. Generally I think that if one has been watching their gas gage decrease to the “0” mark you likely still have 1.5 - 2 gallons. If you simply notice that the gage reads empty it’s hard to say. The “miles till empty” is based on a computation based on recent driving behavior, the empty mark on the gage is a pretty coarse measurement.
Why would you do this? Running out of gas at a stoplight would be incredibly frustrating for him when the cars behind him start honking at him, he’s stuck in the middle of the city and getting increasingly frustrated and…ugh. What a horrible suggestion
Why y’all running on fumes? I don’t gas up every chance I get but when it gets down to a quarter tank I’ll take the next opportunity. I think I’ve only seen the gas light go on once.
Heh.
The last time I ran out of gas was in the late 70s, driving an MG Midget on a flat city street. I stood on the driver’s side and pushed/steered, working a bit to go up the slight ramp into the gas station which was less than a block away.
In service of what? So you can drag your ass along the side of a road in the heat of summer or cold of winter or in the rain? Ask the service station to let you borrow or buy a spare gas can. Walk back to the car only to have to drive to the gas station again to finally fill up the tank like you could have 50 miles back without the waste of time and annoyance.
Yes. I check my fluid levels and tire pressure every couple of weeks. About the time I need to refuel, usually.
Again, can’t think of a more irritating and easily avoidable situation to find oneself in.
I ran out of gas once. I was heading to my son’s daycare to nurse him. This was in pre-cell phone times. So I had to walk to a house, call AAA and then call his daycare that I wasn’t coming and they should use some of the bottles I pumped for emergencies.
Next time it was 2am, we were having an ice storm and my son was running a 105F fever and we had to find a gas station on the way to the hospital. I was seriously worried about running out then too. (It was a Friday night and we were just too wiped after work to fill up. We assumed we’d fill up in the morning).
I try to keep it above a 1/4 tank because you never know when it’s going to be an emergency and no gas station will be around. Oil/tires etc are longer term issues that generally don’t cause as immediate problems as running out of gas can.
I drive an Acura, and it has a range indicator. The gaslight comes on at 30 miles left on range. At first, I was afraid it was really accurate, and I remember nervously driving at zero miles left for a mile or two to the closest gas station thinking I was about to run out. A day or two later, I was talking to someone else with the same model car and he said it can actually go at least 30 miles based zero, and so I tested it out shortly thereafter, with a careful eye on the closest gas station so I wouldn’t be that far from one, and lo and behold, he was right.
So, these days, I generally don’t bother to look for gas until the light comes on since a typical trip is generally under 25 miles. I’ll usually take the first convenient gas stop after the light comes on, though I will occasionally push it past zero.
And I think it makes sense to leave some margin for error on the range. A lot of people probably do run it right to empty, and it saves them frustration by not running out. Besides, in general, you don’t want to run your tank dry. However, once people figure out how far they can go, some people will run that far past empty anyway.
My mother’s significant other once told me, “It doesn’t cost any more to fill the top half of the tank than it does the bottom half”.
Would be interesting to try an experiment - if your miles-til-empty is getting low, bring along whatever is left in your lawn mower gas can and see how many miles you can go past zero.
I don’t have the m-t-e display, but was surprised when I finally checked the warning light. One time it came on and I had the opportunity to pull into a gas station less than a mile later. Filled up and compared it to the specs in my owner’s manual and found I had over 2 gallons left. Seeing as my car averages well over 30 MPG, I realize I have a lot more wiggle room than I had thought.
I’ve heard of folk who say they fill up the top half of the tank. But spending time filling my gas tank isn’t one of my most fun things to do, so I don’t do it way more than I need to. I know I get over 350 miles out of a tank before the light comes on, so I reset the trip odometer every time I fill up and don’t even think of gassing up until I’ve passed 300.
Last time I ran out of gas was shortly after I bought my 62 Corvair. Was not certain of the MPG, and the less-than-precise gas guage was reading 1/4 tank. Was relieved that that was the reason the car died! 
With that car, I tended to fill the top half of the tank.
I have a 87 GMC Suburban that has a fun feature that I learned about the hard way. When the fuel gauge reads 1/8th of a tank it really means Empty. Probably part of the same package that installed the normal 26 gallon tank despite the option code (printed in the glovebox) that states the truck has a 34 gallon tank.
I guess the easier test, would be for folk to simply compare their m-t-e readings with the number of gallons taken, compared to the gas tank capacity times average MPG.
I have run out of gas a handful of times, and once was indeed right at a stoplight. There was nothing to do but push and steer, so I got out and started doing just that. Next thing I knew the car started to actually move, as if by the hand of God himself. Being agnostic, I turned to look, and three grinning young men were at the back bumper, gesturing for me to get back in. They got me safely through the intersection and to the shoulder, piled back into their car, and continued on their way. It was amazing and inspiring–they saw a need and stepped right into place. I pass this on every chance I get.
And that’s just one of the fantastic things that has happened to me after running out of gas. Sometimes I get an unexpected walk I didn’t know I needed. Sometimes I meet some heroes. So far, it has always turned out great.
Absence of oil or a tire blowout can cause sudden vehicular failure. You should inspect these regularly.
And sometimes you get a ticket. Yes there are places where you can get fined for running out of gas.
I can’t for the life of me understand your lack of concern.
Yes. I don’t think anyone is arguing you should not.
However, compared to running out of gas, it is less immediate and happens more often. If the oil light or low tire pressure light come on- then you know it’s a problem. If the low gas light comes on, then you know that’s a problem too.