I bought a used Prius v with 28K miles. The car came with an oil change reminder sticker from the dealer saying the next oil change happens at 31K miles. My car has now 30K and the Maintenance Required light is always on. I still have close to 1100 miles according to the dealer's sticker. My old Honda Civic used to show the percentage of oil life left. Does the Prius have something similar? It is really anoying to see the Maintenance Light always on in the dashboard. It gives me the impression that something really broke in the car. THanks.
I think the maintenance NagLight on my 2009 Gen II goes into NagMode every 5000 miles or so. There are instructions for switching it off (see p. 365 of Destruction Manual). Good luck!
Same with the PiP. They want you to rotate the tires and make sure the floor mat isn't under the gas pedal every 5k miles.
FWIW the Maintenance Required indicator on the Multi information display on my car seems to come on about 500 miles before scheduled maintenance. Updated to reflect mileage since I'm under 1000 miles till next service
It comes on ~500 miles before the 5,000 mile mark (following a reset) when the car is first turned on, then turns off. As the car approaches the 5,000 mile mark, within 50-100 miles (?) of the mark, it stays on permanently until reset. As Jerry mentioned above, the 5K reminder is for tire rotation, fluid levels and floor mat checks. The dealer oil change sticker is useless unless you know what "their" recommended oil change interval (OCI) is. For the 2012 Prius V, I believe the OCI is 10,000 miles, so you are probably due for one now. Assuming the car came with the Owner's manual, maintenance guide, etc., go with Toyota's schedule. If you don't have these, they can be downloaded from Toyota Owners Official Web Site.
And sometimes it isn't reset when an oil change is done (and so comes on a bit later if you were early on miles). It is just a mileage counter, nothing more.
AND......that 3000 mile change interval is WAY below the Toyota recommendation......IF you use their recommended oil or better. I don't like taking mine in at 5K just for a tire rotation so I go about 7K and do both tires and oil; a bit over on the tires and a bit under on the oil. That does mean that I have to live with the reminder for 2-3K miles or reset it myself.
Here is the procedure to reset the Maintenance light. Useful if you do your own oil changes, rotate your tires somewhere other than the dealer, or just don't want to look at the light. By the way, some dealers send oil change coupons (often 2 for 1), so be sure to get on all the competing dealer's service department's mail lists. Even though they allow 10k between changes, many dealers still sticker for 3k changes. If you can afford it and don't mind the often hour long waits, the dealer oil changes usually come with multipoint checks which are useful occasionally. Be sure Toyota has your name and address as the owner of record because recall notifications are usually only sent by mail.
I don't know how universal that procedure is across the years of Prii but......it is a bit different for a C. And the instructions in that manual are confusing too.
At least it is the same as described for my daughter's 2013 Corolla. (Took me a try or two before I realized "on" was the new ACC )
The Prius counter is purely mile counter, not in the same league as Honda's Maintenance Minder. I would just follow the book, dismiss the alert whenever it pops up.
My Maintenance Required message just came on yesterday at about 800 miles before the scheduled 25K mile service.
My 2G did so. I went in a bit early with this one (right before driving to Dallas), and I'm 2,000 miles shy of 10K, so I haven't seen the maintenance light yet. Date-wise, it's due for an oil change/tire rotation. (Although when the Toyota Care is over, I'll be looking for an independent garage that uses Mobil 1 or another full synthetic oil.)