Ivan Doneshefsky

FYI, I’ve looked at UTube videos of Toyota Master technicians. They all say NEVER to overfill the gas tank as it can do harm to the hybrid system. They say fill to the first click and stop. I’m sure that if enough Venza owners complain, Toyota in time, will be forced to recall, just like the RAV 4 hybrids.

Follow up on this issue. Drove 455 miles on last tank which included city and highway. The fuel light came on with 30 miles or so saying low fuel, etc. I drove it down to 9 miles left to empty(I won’t run it past 0 miles to empty as it may do harm to the hybrid system according to the Toyota tech. At fill up, it took 11.4 gallons (filled to the first click/stop)which means it had 3.1 gallons left in reserve. Playing it safe on highway driving averaging 37 mpg, the distance range is about 400-415 miles before fill up(37x11= 407 miles). I’ve owned 16 cars in my lifetime; American, Japanese and Korean. This is the first time a situation like this has occurred. I say this isn’t right and Toyota has to recall the Venza like they did for the 2019-2021 RAV 4 hybrid. It only makes sense as they both are built on the same platform.

Purchased a Venza Limited on May 21. Filled the tank 3 times averaging 10.2 gallons a fill up on about 415 miles. Always run it down to 30 miles left until empty. I took the car into the dealer today. Everything was checked; fuel system and gauge and it came out as DESIGNED? Tech said at empty or when the fuel gauge light comes on, you have approximately 4 gallons left in the tank? Toyota doesn’t say this anywhere in the Owners manual or online. I really don’t know who to trust and am not happy about this as you read about similar problems with the new RAV 4 Hybrid. I’m driving the car across country in 3 weeks and don’t want to fill up every 375-400 miles but it looks like that’s the plan for now until Toyota receives enough complaints and issues a TSB for a fix, computer update or fuel tank replacement. Having the car for less than 2 months, spending over 43K+ and having this issue is giving me buyers remorse. I compared many vehicles in this price range and went with the Venza for the mileage, comfort and Toyota quality. Could have been wrong.