Stephen Ostermiller's Blog

Turning off the Maintenance Required Indicator on the Honda Insight

I recently got routine maintence done on my 2000 Honda Insight, but the mechanic neglected to turn off the "maintenance required" indicator on the dashboard that comes on every 6000 miles or so. Not a big deal, the owner's manual has instructions for doing so. You would need to be able to if you did maintence yourself. Except the instructions they have don't work. The manual states:

To reset the maintenance required indicator, turn the ignition switch to the LOCK position, then press and hold the trip meter reset button until the indicator resets.

First, the LOCK position isn't labeled as such (further in the manual they explain that it is position 0). Second, they forgot a step. Better directions would be the following:

  • Start with the car off.
  • Insert the key but do not turn it (LOCK (0) position).
  • Press and hold the trip button.
  • While holding the button turn the key to the (ON (II) position).
  • Continue holding the button until indicator resets (about 10 seconds).

Darn bugs in the owner's manual. Of course my car from the first model year the car was made. They may have fixed the manual by now.

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