Help! My son keeps having the warning "!" light c

Details please.

 

Can you expand on the circumstances under which he is experiencing the warning lights. How long has the car been on, is it in city driving, highway driving, stop and go traffic? What other warning lights go on? What is the message on the MFD?

It is true that the trouble warning lights will be reset when the car is turned on and off a few times, but that does not explain the cause of the warning signal.

Has he taken the car to the dealer? Did they look up the trouble codes which are stored in the car's computers?

There have been numerous discussions of such incidents, but it is hard to steer you toward possible solutions without knowing the particulars.

 

This happened to me. After reading a few posts here I finally figued out that the gas cap was not tight enough. I had to turn it until it clicked many times. After that i had to use the car three times so it would automically reset the alert. No more warnings in almost a year. Hope this helps.

 

If the cap IS the problem, my Honda Odyssey has the similar fuel cap, its manual says to tighten the cap till you hear at least three clicks. I do the same with my Prius.

 

I am very glad I got mine. Anuthing with technology has problems and considering the extrodinary technology that the Prius represents, I think that Toyota did a good job with it. I sleep fine at night.

 

there are tons of simple reasons that light can come on. is this a second gen prius or the classic? you really can't say until you get the codes read. has he looked at the display when the light comes on? sometimes it will tell you what needs to be done. sometimes.

and i think people are more likely to post a problem here for discussion than a good experience, although we do see posts of both... so I think you have a higher population of "problem" discussions here simply because people come here (like your post here) looking for an answer. in a number of (but not all) cases the solution may be a simple thing found in the owner's manual...

we absolutely love ours, and have had no trouble whatsoever.

it is a newer technology, so people are kind of afraid of any lights, etc that may come up that may indicate a problem. i say don't worry. just drive the car and enjoy

 

Is it a brand new car?

If so, this may be the issue with the sealant used in the exhaust system "burning off" after the first few hundred miles of driving. If it's the same issue, it will stop after a few hundred miles.

If it's not a new car and the light is coming on, take it to a dealership and get them to pull the code on it to tell you exactly what the problem is.

Dave

 

Re: Help! My son keeps having the warning "!" lig

Recently I was baffled by the appearance of the warning light that looks like a key with an exclamation point. Eventually by coincidence I picked up my cell phone which was in the center console, and the light went out. I returned it to the console but in a different spot, and it stayed out. Weird.

The instructions for the Smartkey system do say that you shouldn't keep it next to a cell phone. I wonder if anyone else has had problems with this. I try to have the phone in one pocket and the Smartkey in the other....

 

The exhaust burn illuminates the Check Engine light (CEL) , not the triangle of doom. I am assuming the lit indicator is the red triangle, right?

There is another indicator with a picture of a car and the ! in the middle of it. That indicates the key is missing. Very common with SKS. The car will continue to run if you walk off with the fob, and you'll get three beeps outside the car when you close any door to warn you that you left the car running with the key not being in the car.
This indicator would be pretty unusual without SKS, as you can't remove the fob from the slot with it running. Cellphones can interfere with the fob's transmission if too close, so that could also trigger the missing key symbol.

If the gas cap is tight when a malfunction indicator light comes on (MIL) then see your dealer and have them pull the diagnostic trouble codes (DTC).

 

Re: Help! My son keeps having the warning "!" lig

Thank you for clearing up the "key with the exclamation point" light!

I too was baffled when I saw that.

I love this site!!!

Lisa