The Gas Gauge Says Full, But Thats Not Quite True NPRAfter filling your tank, your cars gas gauge may stay on full for a day or two before the needle starts creeping toward empty. Thats because auto engineers have calibrated our gas gauges to lie to us. Host Scott Simon talks with Ford Motor Company engineer Phil Pierron about why the gauge is intentionally calibrated to be inaccurate. SCOTT SIMON, Host Mr. Pierron, thanks so much for being with us. PHIL PIERRON Oh, youre welcome. Fiv5HQ4hvd8/0.jpg' alt='Art Of Illusion Manual' title='Art Of Illusion Manual' />SIMON Can you get into trouble spilling beans on this PIERRON Well, I dont know that were really spilling beans on anything. I think what were actually doing is trying to convert our customers wants and needs into, you know, an engineering requirement. SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTERSIMON How does not telling somebody how much gas they have left in their tanks serve their requirements I mean because even if you want them to be hopeful and optimistic, at some point it runs out. PIERRON So what we do is we need to assure that the gauge will read full at that first click, and also stays on full for an amount of time that the customer feels comfortable with. SIMON In other words, a gauge that would read full when its not really. And, for that matter, empty when its not really. Art Of Illusion Manual' title='Art Of Illusion Manual' />PIERRON Yeah, the gauge will get to full at something a little less than the rated capacity of the tank. Now, youve probably seen in gauges also that the gauge typically can travel slightly past the full mark, as well. SIMON So why can we drive for a couple of days and it wont register PIERRON Well, a couple of days might be a little exaggeration. SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTERPIERRON But again, it depends on the customers usage patterns. We usually try and target, you know, probably around 2. Install Win Xp To Compact Flash. SIMON Is this in any way analogous as there is in the, lets say, the dress industry to size eights that are marked size four PIERRON I dont think so because I think, you know, what we do print in the owners manual is what the fuel tank actually can hold. You know, well tell what the actual usable capacity of the tank is. SIMON Mr. Pierron, you must be a real revelation to go on a road trip with. SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTERPIERRON Why would you say that SIMON Well, I mean, you know, all you know everything about the car. You know all the little tricks and all the little nuances. PIERRON Well, I dont know that its such a revelation. I mean I think if you talk to a general customer, you can have him know that hell say when he gets to empty, he knows he can drive still a little farther. And he knows that when his gauge is on full its going to stay there for a bit. I mean theres even been Seinfeld episode where Kramer is driving and, you know, hes talking about how long he can drive on empty. So. SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTERSIMON Phil Pierron, an engineer at Ford, speaking with us from Detroit, thanks so much. PIERRON Oh, youre welcome. SIMON Fill yourself up, WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. The Gas Gauge Says Full, But Thats Not Quite True After filling your tank, your cars gas gauge may stay on full for a day or two before the needle starts. The Webby Awardwinning arts magazine. Covering fine art, tattoo, graffiti, design, and cinema. EMj_o_0WaolsnIzfMzfNnaPhMDygRYgG785STI7p6alapUfXkVWLUHtuM4oeFWxk' alt='Art Of Illusion Manual' title='Art Of Illusion Manual' />Some people call conservators the magicians of the art world. Oftentimes, the colors of older paintings have a brown and yellow tint caused by. Copyright 2. 01. NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb. Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. CLX art. MartinLogan is proud to announce a new edition of the worlds finest fullrange electrostatic line source loudspeaker. The CLX art incorporates our most. Art of Illusion is a 3Dmodeller, renderer and raytracer. It is written in Java and runs on Linux, Solaris, OS X, and Windows. Blender3D-main.jpg' alt='Art Of Illusion Manual' title='Art Of Illusion Manual' />The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. Art Of Illusion Manual' title='Art Of Illusion Manual' />Zen. Fone 2 ZE5. ML Phones. Unprecedented Performance. Zen. Fone 2 is powered by a 6. GHz Super Quad Core Intel Atom Z3. GB of dual channel DDR3 RAM. Featuring LTE Cat 4 for download speeds up to 2. Mbits, and a 6. 0ms touch response time, Zen. Fone 2 gives you power beyond your imagination. Learn more about Performance.