My favorite reporter John Stossel has a report that appears on this Friday's 20/20 episode. I mentioned another of his reports in a previous post. He reports "[w]e've all been there. You're driving down the highway, miles from the nearest gas station, and your car's fuel gauge is quickly approaching empty. Is it time to panic? Or is there still some gas sloshing around at the bottom of the tank that can keep you in motion?
Does empty really mean empty on your car's gas gauge, or is that a myth?
Last month, I ran a test. I bought a spare can of gasoline and set out on a road trip -- a trip that started with next to no gas in my minivan's tank. When I left New York City, the car's gas light was on and the needle on the gas gauge was near "E."Luckily, my car has a feature that seems more precise than the needle: a digital read-out. It said that I still had 25 miles to go.
If that's true, what does empty really mean? Is it when the needle hits "E"? Is it when the digital read-out hits zero? I kept driving. Would the car stop moving when the read-out hit zero?
It didn't.
My car still kept going. And going, and going, and going."
It didn't.
My car still kept going. And going, and going, and going."
Stossel also points out this web site.
9 comments:
same thing happen to me...i always reach the destination eventhough the fuel tank showed me 'E'..i guess it was just lucky me...hahaha
The fuel gauge is shown " zero " but the car still can run, mostly people see this, he will quickly fill up the tank. Through your experiment, it shown that the car still can run for sometimes, it is really a real test to clear the doubt, thanks for sharing. I need to thanks for your suggestion for my site. you suggested to me to put on some advestisement, I study it and on 11-12-2008, few advestisement appeared on my site.
http://coolingstar9.blogspot.com/
thanks and wish your merry christmas and happy new year2008.
Same thing has happend to me also, Waliz. The only problem is that I ran out of gas... Ever since then, I get gas before as soon as the light comes on. I don't to have another long walk...
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too, Collingstar9! I try not to out my gas gauge to the test that the new story talks about.
I've had the same deal too. I've also coasted into a gas station on fumes only to have my car sputter out at the pump. I was thanking my lucky stars that day!
Thanks for comment, Earthmommy. And a famous politician would say..."I feel your pain." :)
For all of my readers, this post got a mention in a professional web site. Even though it seems to be a back-handed comment, I will take it. I have never been to this site until now. The link is at the bottom of the story when the author mentions someone (that would be me) like John Stossel: http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/23014
hey..this is great! good job u done...
Thanks Waliz. It sure had me excited when I saw the link. So you never really know who is reading your blog...
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