‘They just don’t make em like this anymore…’
A Toyota driver says driving down the freeway on an empty gas tank doesn’t worry him one bit.
In a Facebook Reel, Chad Mfive (@Chadbmw) demonstrates the abandoned car feature that relieves any stress from running out of gas. The Reel has over 7.4 million views as of this writing.
In the post, Chad drives down the freeway in his Land Cruiser and is quickly approaching an empty tank. However, he isn’t worried about it.
“So my Toyota Land Cruiser is pretty much out of gas, but I don’t think that’ll be an issue,” he begins.
Chad’s hand motions underneath the steering wheel and locates a button. Chad presses it, and the problem is immediately fixed. Now, what exactly does this button do after he presses it? Well, it completely resets the empty gas gauge to show a full tank.
Chad told Motor1, “The truck comes with 2 fuel tanks from the factory. The main tank was completely empty so I turned on the second tank.”
When the second tank got switched on, the gas gauge read full once again. While the on-screen caption, “Ran out of gas on the fwy,” was accurate, Chad simply switched to the second tank to keep driving.
As he added in the caption, “Unlimited supply of fuel.” Chad used a feature rarely seen anymore.
Many viewers went to the comments section to reminisce about this dual-tank feature.
“They just don’t make em like this anymore. Toyota forever goated,” one TikTok commenter shared.
“My dads 1980’s F150 had dual tanks, it was pretty dang cool,” another added.
While others made humorous remarks around this forgotten feature.
“I know plenty of people that would run out of gas with two tanks…” one commented.
“Switching to your secondary is always faster than refueling,” another shared.
“Ain’t an issue until you gotta fill up two tanks worth,” a third added.
“Wooohoooo you just got another 100 miles,” another mentions.
Having multiple fuel tanks in your vehicle has become a thing of the past. This feature was popular from the 1970s to the 1990s with Ford and Chevy trucks, SlashGear reports.
Dual gas tanks became a thing for several reasons, including extra gas for the driver, enhanced weight distribution, and a space-saving design for engineers. This extra tank was beneficial for heavy towing, as these jobs quickly burn through gas.
However, the extra fuel tank raised some issues. As Motor1 previously reported, these issues raised inconvenience and safety concerns.
When refueling, drivers had to pump gas into each tank separately to fully fill them.
Additionally, sometimes there were issues with the valve system. When this system failed, the selection between the two different tanks would be eliminated. This could lead to shortening and possible issues with one tank overfilling the other.
The biggest issue with the dual-tank feature was Chevy’s side-saddle design. This was by far the most drastic and greatest safety risk, as this design raised the potential for a fire during a collision.
Chevy decided to put a tank on each side of the truck outside the frame. So, during an accident, the gas tanks were less protected and were much easier to puncture. When the tank is punctured, the risk of a fire increases dramatically.
Over 2,000 people were killed in fire crashes involving these Chevy side saddle design trucks from 1973–2009, the Center for Auto Safety reports.
As advancements in fuel efficiency became common in the 1990s, car manufacturers began phasing out the dual-tank design.
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