My Prius has the red tiangle warning light on approximately half of the time. The first time it came on I was very alarmed because the triangle was accompanied by an orange icon indicating that the car should be taken immediately for service. Rather than going to the dealer I went home, since nothing seemed wrong with the car. For the past month the warning light has been coming on and going off about every other day; a couple of times the problem has been identified with a statement such as the transmission parking lock is abnormal; but parking works just fine. Everything's working perfectly. Has someone out there had similar experiences with the red triangle?
The car continues to work perfectly with or without the red triangle on. I will mention this to the dealer when I take the car in for the first oil and filter change at 5000 miles (currently 3300). The dealer offers the first oil/filter change for free. Several posts in this and other forums suggest that most dealers don't have a clue about what to do when this light turns on. Thus, since the car is working perfect, I am in no particular hurry to have someone experiment with my car.
It will probably not be a matter of the dealer "experimenting" with your car. The car's OBD system will probably tell the dealer exactly what is wrong. Anything *could* be about to fail, possibly catastrophically. Would you rather wait until the waranty has expired, or until you have to have it towed?
If I were you, I'd get the car in immediately. Firstm, it is indeed under warranty. It won't cost you a dime to fix it. However, if whatever is causing this fault is not addressed, and causes ADDITIONAL problems, Toyota can void your warranty for failure to properly maintain your car.
