I was just curious about the way the "Maintenance Service Required" flag compiles it's data to trigger the message. Does it do it by pure mileage readings or by other perameters calculated by the ECM. Within the 10,000 mile oil change requirement, the flag has displayed somewhat early. First time it displayed at 4,600 and the second time (oil change schedule) at 9400 miles. Could it be that my driving conditions are telling me that the oil is being taxed prematurely? Or, if it calculates by mileage alone, can it (odometer)be reset to a more accurate reading?
Mileage alone. The 2010 comes on 500 miles prior to each 5k mile interval. The oil change interval is 10k miles unless your driving is considered heavier than normal. When the 2010's first came out the oil change interval was 5k miles. Owners complained about the increased cost of synthetic oil and the fact that it was designed to go further than 5k miles. Toyota changed the interval to 10k miles shortly after the first of the year. The maintenance reminder has not been changed since they still want you to go in and have the basic service every 5k miles so the dealers will not miss their service income.
FWIW, Honda's Maintenance Minder system apparently does uses various factors to determine service intervals. I'd speculate things like average coolant temp, numbers of starts, rpm, distance, etc., are all factored in. People doing a lot of highway driving report longer service intervals than those doing a lot of short trips, for example. Per jdcollins5, the Toyota system is mileage only. In Canada the Prius doesn't have any Maintenance reminder in the dash.
The thing comes on 4,500 miles since last reset. So sounds like yours was reset at 4,900 mi. I am super disappointed with all the technology in this car, there is no real oil life monitor like the one GM throws in every single car. I bet the oil can go much longer than 10K in ideal conditions.
You are absolutely right! Oil life monitors are especially a good idea in automotive fleet applications. Salesmen are the worst.
