Acura TSX has dual trip meter (A/B). The manual said this will help you to track your trip independently. I guess independently means that only meter will increase at one time.

However, I found out, two meters will all increase if I drive the car. For example, set both meter to zero, and start driving for 10 miles, both meter will show 10 miles even only A is show, B still increases.

Is there any problem?

 

No. You can use one to track your trip mileage, and one to track your gas mileage.

 

I actually reset the trip meter every time I fill up to see how my mileage is. I rely on how many miles I have driven rather than the gas guage to determine when it is time to fill up!

 

I do the same thing too.

 

The trip meter sux, with only 3 digits, the only thing you can do with it is for calculating fuel efficiency.

 

Every car I've ever had is a 3 digit trip meter.

 

Corolla has more digits.

 

The gas gauge is somewhat useless. It's not lined up vertically, doesn't quite sweep 180 degrees, and there's no 1/4 or 1/8 markings on it. And it reads non-linearly.

 

Yeah... but then you're driving a Corolla. :P

 

Yeah, but then I would expect anything from Toyota would have that too.

 

The idea is for a main trip and a sub-trip, or the gas and actual trip, as you note. It's been like that in the BMW and Toyotas I've had.

Also, what's the big deal about tracking fuel efficiency? I mean every once in a while it's kinda good to know that the car's working properly, but why do people care so much?

 

I agree. It's a ballpark guess at best.

What did you mean by "non-linearly"? I'm guessing you mean measurement reads more heavily near F or E. If so, would the decreasing weight of the fuel cause that?

As you use gas, you carry less and less weight. So your mileage should improve as you get closer to E. And the needle would slow down, too right?

Could one of you brainy engineers jump in about now?

 

All of that should be right, but again, who carees? I saw that this guy over on that "other TSX" site (via an email from my old subscription there) installed a tire pressure monitoring system above his rear-view mirror so that he could look up at the back-lit LCD and see that pressure was JUUUUST right all the time. It's kind of like "Homer's" "Everything's Okay Alarm" ("BEEEP!!! AS LONG AS YOU ARE HEARING THIS SOUND, YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT EVERYTHING IS OKAY!).

With a full trip computer it could be useful for knowing how many miles you have left to empty, but otherwise it's kind of like an efficiency monitor in your A/C system "This A/C system is operating at 98% efficiency"....so?

 

I use it just like someone else said. When I refill the gas, I reset the trip meter. then when the light goes on at 1/4 tank I can see just how many miles I have until I run out.

 

Wouldn't that assume that you drive at the same consumption rating? Why wouldn't you just set it when the light goes on so you know how many you've gone towards the empty, that would help reduce some of the problem? Rather, wouldn't you just know roughly how much is left at the various levels so you can keep going?

As for driving it to next to empty, at least Acura doesn't recommend that for engine wear.

 

I use one to reset/check gas mileage every time I fill up. I also use it to give me an estimate on how many miles I have left before I should fill up
I use the other to keep track of total trip miles...very helpful since I travel for work so I can get reimbursed accordingly.

 

When the needle reaches the 1/2 mark, the distance travelled is less than 1/2 of when the needle hits E. i.e. the 1/2 mark for me is around 275km, but I get >600 km when I hit E. There's a number of threads on this forum with others commenting about this.

A half tank is about 30L, which is 30kg, or approx. 80 lbs. It's a neglible amount of weight in a 3200-3300 lb car, plus driver and passengers. It's not like a race car where the fuel is a substantial fraction of total weight.

A weight penalty would mostly affect fuel consumption during acceleration, not steady-speed cruising or braking.

 

I used to experience the same problem. I'm not sure if there is a problem, but when I took my car in for its 10K service, they had to reset the "MAINT REQ'D" light. And this required the dealer to press and hold the "Select/Reset" knob to reset the light. After they did this, the problem went away and the trip meters started to work independently. If you want to try this method to see if your trip meters will work properly after this procedure, it can be found on page 68 in the manual.

 

Wow, I'll have to check that out! If it works, perhaps it's really a toggle switch for the people who want the "classic" dual concurrent trip meters or the fully independent ones.

 

I'll see page 68 tonight.... hope the US manual is similar with Australian. In which section is it anyway?

I'll be damn surprised if it works independently!