THE GREAT ODOMETER SCANDAL! (Tank 281 - 14 June 2K11)

I sneaked out of work this morning to refuel at the BJ's near my office. Gas was $3.639 per gallon, which was about a nickel cheaper than neighboring gas stations, but probably about 20 cents more per gallon than gas in Fredericksburg. The car had gone 423.4 miles, so my fuel economy was 37.13 miles per gallon, which is nothing to write home about.

Mostly, I am growing more and more disturbed about an issue that bugs me, and that is how annoyed I am that the combined total of all my trip distances does not match up to the total mileage that the odometer indicates.

ODOMETER READING AT GAS STATION: 110,659
TOTAL OF 281 TANKS OF GAS: 110.601.2

One would think that the total of all 281 tanks would equal total miles traveled. But no, this is certainly not the case. There's about a 57 or 58 mile difference between the two.

I can't see how a rounding error would apply here, as the odometer that reports whole numbers only ought to just continue up at the same point it left off. The trip meter measures in tenths of miles.

"But Kenny, perhaps each and every tank you drove just far enough for the trip meter to round DOWN to the nearest tenth and not up to the next tenth?"

Well, the 57 or 58 mile difference, divided by 281 tanks, is more than 0.2 miles difference per tank, so you can take that pitiful argument back home with you and put it in the trash where it belongs.

I mentioned this horrific quality control failure in the Toyota system to my coworker the other day, and she thinks this may be exactly the sort of data that Toyota may want to have in order to improve its vehicles.

I mean, this could conceivably mess up my resale value here. My odometer will read 200,000 miles at some point, but when that happens, I will know in my heart of hearts that I have only driven 199,942 miles.

And I can prove it!