WARNING LOW GAS signal

[cornflakes 9]

So I have a question about the LOW GAS signal that lights up when you are nearing on empty.

Does yours light up at 3 bars, 2 bars, or 1 bar left?

Funny thing is, I was driving the other day with 3 bars left. It should have gone down to 2 bars and still be good for another 30-35 Km or so, but it suddenly went from 3 bars to 1 bar flashing yellow light gas signal.

Exactly how far can you drive while the warning signal flashes? Would you say at least another 30km? 50km?

Obviously, most of us refill before finding out how long a car can go on the warning signal.....but just curious. Do they make the signal flash way ahead of time just to protect us and be ultra safe? So let's say that I really had about 50-60km left on my tank, but it decides to flash warning signal just to let me know ahead of time?

I'm curious to know how EARLY they signal us. The Pre-digital gas meter (the mechanical arrow) that would inch closer to the "E" meaning you are running close to empty, was always fairly accurate and I knew that even if the arrow was about 1 millimeter in front of the E, I was not in any panic mode and had a good 30-50 km or even more. I'd often let it hit E and keep driving for a while knowing in full confidence there was enough gas to not panic and fill up right away.

With the digital display, all you see is something that tells you you have 2 bars left and you think to yourself, 'that's plenty left to drive around for at least 50 km", but as soon as it hits 1 bar 10 seconds later, the light is flashing and it looks like you are just about EMPTY, but 10 seconds ago you knew for a fact you had at least 50km more.

So with the digital meter, i'm wondering how accurate it is because you can't actually see is that 1 bar left that is flashing a 90% full 1 bar or is that 1 bar a 20% left 1 bar if you get what I mean? On the old physical arrow/needle, you can see every micro millimeter the arrow moves so you know you are STILL GOOD even if the arrow is a micro meter ahead of the E.

[bluer101 241]

Mine comes in at 1 bar and it takes about 7 1/2 gallons at that point.

[njresler 14]

My signal comes on with about 30-35 miles left. And around 27 miles the things goes crazy and doesn't allow me to change the status menu.

[greggb 7]

One time I let it go down to one bar. Shortly after that (maybe 10 miles or so) the light came on. I than went and filled up. It took 8.5 gallons which REALLY surprised me considering that the fuel tank is supposedly just over 9 gallons. At best I figure I would have been able to go only about 25 miles before I would have been totally empty. I would suggest that anyone who owns a Spark SERIOUSLY consider filling it up when the fuel gage gets down to one bar. I know I will being that I live in the desert and some drives can be MANY miles between gas stations if outside the major cities of Phoenix and Tucson.There is even a stretch of Interstate highway in Arizona where it is 98 miles between gas stations!!

[ChevyBeat 28]

The last flashing bar is usually coincides with yellow light for low fuel. It have almost 50km to go. I unlocked the distance to empty by opening dummy switch on console in my Beat. It also shows same, though its not accurate as it shows distance based on your current fuel avg. If you're in city DTE comes 1st with ---, which is 50km than yellow light. On Highway its just opposite.