Maintenance required light on Toyota

My maintenance required light turned on within a couple of weeks of my annual service for my 2015 Toyota Corolla (~500 miles driven). The dealership says that the problem is not that they forgot to reset the light (or do other aspects of the service), rather, the maintenance required light can be occasionally glitchy and turn off shortly after it was reset. Is this a plausible explanation?

Was it on before you went in for the annual service? Your owners manual might have the procedure needed to reset the light, so you can avoid having to go in to the dealer. If not, google it, I bet you’ll find it.

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It was not on prior - they said they had manually reset it at the dealership at the time of the service

My money’s on ‘they forgot to reset it’, but who knows? Is it under warranty?

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The exact same situation took place with a friend’s Toyota, and then later with his Subaru. In both cases, a quick visit to the dealership for a “reset” took care of the issue.

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the “Maintenance Required” is quite often just a reminder light telling you that your vehicle is coming due for manufacturer recommended maintenance.
This is different than a Check Engine Light that informs you of a concern that needs to be addressed.
Be sure you know which light it is. If it is the Maintenance required light, then I agree that the tech just forgot to reset it, likely because it was not on when it came in.

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The people that answer the phone receive these calls every day, they don’t really know if the lube tech reset the maintenance reminder.

Reset the maintenance reminder, you won’t need a lawyer for this.

I too suspect they forgot to reset it. It happened to me.

Not all vehicles have maintenance lights, my 2006 Corolla did but my 2009 Matrix/Vibe does not
 Matrix/Vibe are based off the Corolla chasses


The light being on helps to remind the tech to reset it, if the light was not on, then he probable either thought he had already reset it or didn’t look because it was not on


Just reset it and move on with your life
 not worth worrying about
 And like already said, this is a very common thing to happen


No, not plausible. But imo it’s not a serious issue if they simply forgot to reset it either after some prior work. I had a VW Rabbit many years ago. After some fuel pump relay work done by a dealership shop I noticed the fuel pump would start running as soon as I turned the key to “on”. I told the service writer this wasn’t how it worked before. Before the fuel pump would only run after cranking & starting the engine. He said I was wrong, that’s always how it always worked 
 lol 
 I said let’s go out to the lot and try some of your cars. He said “no”, didn’t have time, and the cars on the lot weren’t the same model year as my Rabbit anyway, so they might be different. A few days later the car stalled on the freeway, the fuel pump relay work had been done incorrectly.

It’s on page 421 of the owners manual,

■Reset the maintenance data (U.S.A. only)
After the required maintenance is performed according to the maintenance
schedule, please reset the maintenance data.
To reset the data, follow the procedure described below:
Turn the engine switch off with the trip meter A reading shown.
(ï‚źP. 77, 82)
Vehicles without a smart key system:
While pressing the “DISP” switch1 (ï‚źP. 77) or display change button2
(ï‚źP. 82), turn the engine switch to the “ON” position (do not start the
engine because reset mode will be canceled).
Vehicles with a smart key system:
While pressing the “DISP” switch1 (ï‚źP. 77) or display change button2
(ï‚źP. 82), turn the engine switch to the IGNITION ON mode (do not start the
engine because otherwise the reset mode will be canceled).
*1: Vehicles with a drive monitor display
*2: Vehicles with a multi-information display
Continue to press and hold the button until the trip meter displays “000000

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If it wasn’t on prior, then there was no need for them to reset it. Toyota maintenance reminder light is set to every 5k miles. My guess is you were at the 4,500 mile mark the day you took the vehicle in. Then, 500 miles later the light turned on.

Go to your owners manual and learn how to reset it.

The “MAINT REQD” indicator starts to come on 500 miles before the service is due

It will flash 5 times when you turn on the ignition and then extinguish

When those 500 miles are up and it’s now due, the light will remain illuminated until you reset it

My guess is that you can’t properly reset the indicator if it wasn’t even on in the first place

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