Thanks for the info

I love my car. Love it. It's like a bundle of joy that gets excellent gas mileage and is pretty to look at. But (insert segue here).

Several weeks ago, the "maintenance required" light in my car came on. It only blinked a couple of times when I first turned the car on, so I knew it wasn't really a big deal. It always does that when it thinks I need an oil change. Which means the light starts blinking about every 3000 miles. But I don't change the oil until it's been 5000 miles. So the blinking gets a little old. But whatev. I deal with it.

Just a couple of days ago, however, the maintenance light came on and stayed on. (What? What does this mean, pretty car? Are you mad at me? I promise I'll get you washed soon.)

I started worrying that something was wrong. But what? I've never understood why the car can tell you it needs maintenance but it can't specify what kind. Especially in my car, that has an entire screen just to track the energy usage. Make yourself useful, energy monitor! Anyway, I decided that if this was just about the oil change, maybe I should take the car to the dealer for it so they could verify that nothing else was wrong. But of course, I forgot to call them and find out when I could get it in there. So what to do? Oh, I know. Google it!

And Google came through for me again. I found out from other Prius owners that the light does indeed come on and stay on at about 5000 miles until the oil is changed and the light is reset. So no worries. I suppose it is time for an oil change, though...