This is normal on a majority of Toyota's. There is little you can do about it.

 

All normal to have built in safety from Father Toyota. They engineer extra fuel for those that want to test the systems. The light is about 2 gallons remain to almost everyone that has tried to test. There may be a true calibrated tank out there so if you challenge and lose, you're on you're own.
Toyota, Like my Ford and Volvo and Triumph, there is no using all of the gas in the tank. Figure it's 2 gallons in the tank, but the test has also proven that there is a gallon or so of unreachable gas.
Good luck

 

There is at least three gallons when the light is on. There is an old Honda Civic commercial from 1999 - 2001 that "explains this" in that the passenger tells the driver he is out of gas but the driver tells him it is okay because despite the light being on they can still go a couple miles.

 

I'm not so concerned that there's actually 2-3 gallons of gas remaining when the light comes on or that the "distance to empty" is indicating zero. What matters to me is that it is consistent. In my experience, it has been.

My guess is that choosing to err on the side of caution helps to decrease headaches for Toyota's lawyers and public relations. It's no different than the speedometers reading one or two mph faster than actual so that Toyota doesn't get sued for causing people to get speeding tickets.

 

I'm not so concerned that there's actually 2-3 gallons of gas remaining when the light comes on or that the "distance to empty" is indicating zero. What matters to me is that it is consistent. In my experience, it has been.

My guess is that choosing to err on the side of caution helps to decrease headaches for Toyota's lawyers and public relations. It's no different than the speedometers reading one or two mph faster than actual so that Toyota doesn't get sued for causing people to get speeding tickets.

In addition, certain people WILL run it til empty. Then the fuel pump burns out.

 

the fuel gauge is pretty accurate, I got 45 mpg on the reading and real calculation. 2 gallaons reserved is a conservative consideration.

 

The specs say the CAPACITY of the tank is 17 gallons. About 2-3 gallons is not reachable. It's there to lubricate the fuel pump. This oddity is one of the things I've learned to live with. BTW, fighter jets have the same situation, if that makes you feel better. You're driving a fighter jet.
Ray A.

 

Either not reachable or to make sure people don't drive it til dry.

 

You can run it down as much as you want. Whether or not you kill it or not, that is also up to you. I've taken chances at times to see how far I can go but the thing is that I rather not burn out my fuel pump by going all the way til it is dry. If you want to run it til it is dry, go for it. Whether you get 15 gallons of fuel or 17 gallons of fuel, it is the same either way in that you are filling it up with fuel. If anything, truly empty is when you get pass the E.

VM001: (Defunct) 2AZ-FE Miles Per Gallon Thread

Hi all, I figured I would make a thread to list what our miles per gallons are for anyone with the 2AZ-FE engine. Source: https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bymodel/2008_Toyota_Camry.shtml Estimations Range Based on EPA Estimates 18.5 gallon tank * 31 estimated hwy mpg = 573.5 miles 18.5 gallon...

www.toyotanation.com

 

What I wish to know is how much is the real world tank capacity. Can I fill it to the brim, and use 16.5 gallons? If there are 2 gallons 'unreachable', it will run out at 15 gallons? That doesn't sit right. I have confirmed that running it to 0 miles remaining per the gauges, it will take 15 gallons to fill. That's where the discussion started, why is the gauge apparently so conservative. If it will really cut out at 2 gallons remaining, the gauge is spot on!

 

I ran the car for a while after the light was on. Until the miles remaining was at 5, and there was a gas stations in front of me. I DO NOT WANT TO HAVE TO BE DELAYED TO GET FUEL AFTER RUNNING OUT. Why would you purposely do that?
It took 13.2 gallons. The hybrid drove 518. Which was the miles remaining after the fill up, 523 miles. From San Diego to North Sacramento. If you are trying to set a record, fine. Don't be surprised if there are problems when you get there.
I expect that the computer, programmed by the Toyota laptop could be changed, but my suspicion is that the computer is told that it needs to keep some gas in the tank, to keep the fuel pump from burning up. Self protection/
Personally I was trying to set a personal max. which i did, you can. Most of us bought this particular car for reliability ans comfort and peace of mind.
Good luck.

 

Why? To know the capacity of the tank. I was surprised that the gauge showed 0 miles, if there are 2 gallons remaining. In other cars I have owned, I concluded that 'empty' means 1 gallon remaining. My old 2008 Town and Country has a 20 gallon tank, and one time I filled 19.8 gallons. Pretty confident that vehicle has a legit 20 gallon tank.

 

The whole point of the DTE is so you don`t run out of gas. Of course there is a hidden reserve built in, if not most would run out of gas, all over the highways. The only focus on the DTE was to alert the driver to how far away the next fuel stop is, when traveling on the highways and Interstate travel. If it said gallons to empty it would still have to have a reserve.

 

I personally think the lawyers have this one and Toyota doesn't want the blame for drivers that don't pay attention.
Q
If the tank capacity "SAID" 18 with 4 gallons inaccessible would it be better?

 

I understand what you mean. I think the message "Miles to EMPTY" is incorrect. We know the tank isn't "EMPTY" when the display says so. Maybe it should say "Almost Running on Fumes" or something like that.
The owner's manual recommends adding fuel when the gage is below half. That's another one I haven't figured out. Also, if one were to deliberately run the car out of gas, would the fuel injectors need to be primed?
Ray A.