Borrowing his girlfriend’s car gave Gabe, who posts as @gabepietrafesa, a reason to call her almost immediately. The dashboard estimated he had just one mile of driving left, and he wanted an explanation.
She said the car had another 15 miles in reserve. Gabe wasn’t confident in a fuel supply the display wasn’t counting.
Gas wasn’t his only concern. A low tire-pressure warning was also lit, giving him another dashboard alert to deal with while driving someone else’s car.
Among the comments on his TikTok post, several viewers sided with his girlfriend. Some trusted her knowledge of the car, while others saw an easy explanation for why she had let him take the wheel.
A Little Faith
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“One mile to go?!” Gabe said after noticing the cruising-range estimate. He called his girlfriend, who assured him, “There’s 15 miles in reserve.”
“Really? Your car goes minus 15 on the dash?” he asked. Gabe stopped to fill the tank, leaving the claimed extra range untested.
Some Wiggle Room
A range display estimates how far the remaining fuel will take a vehicle. In its owner’s manual, Ford explains that changes in driving patterns can make that number rise, hold steady, or fall.
Evidence suggests zero on the display can occur before an empty tank. During its 2021 testing, AAA found remaining range in vehicles after their displays reached zero. Researchers cautioned that a different sequence of driving conditions could have produced different results.
That finding supports the girlfriend’s general point about fuel remaining beyond the displayed estimate. It does not establish that her particular car had another 15 miles available.
For refueling, AAA recommends watching the fuel gauge and filling up at a quarter of a tank. Its advice also notes that regularly running a tank down to empty can damage the fuel pump.
Full Service
“She knows her car…” commenter Becca Kay wrote. Elizabeth Leicester offered a different explanation: “That’s why she let you borrow it, silly.”
Other viewers recognized the habit. One commenter said her boyfriend did not believe her either, while another described dating someone whose car ran out of gas six times during one college semester.
Jenna focused on the result for Gabe’s girlfriend. “And guess what, it did work out for her bc you went and filled up her tank,” she wrote.