How do cars measure fuel level accurately when the fluid is constantly sloshing around?
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A few different (and correct) answers are in the comments. One thing that I haven’t seen mentioned is that the fuel lever that’s shown on the dash isn’t actually all that accurate. It’s pretty close, but that’s it.
They can’t. They do their best, but it will *still* shosh around.
Pretty sure that onboard computers tend to do an *estimate* based on the last readings, and on your current mean fuel consumption, which they then recompute periodically, maybe using the mean of the fuel readings. Like, if it oscillates between 12 and 8%, it must be around 10%
Also, when the level gets too low, you usually have a “reserve” reading, instead of anything more precise, because they’re not able to gauge how much is left, only that it’s not a lot.
The simple answer is they don’t. They are nowhere near accurate, if they were my car would often be less than empty before the warning light even comes on.
Negative fuel isn’t a thing so no, they don’t measure it accurately.
Why doesn’t the needle bounce around with all the sloshing? It’s just heavily dampened. In my car it does eventually change up or down depending on which way the car leans. If it only for a short time then the needle doesn’t move. If it leans for 10+ seconds it probably does.
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