A Maint Reqd Toyota Camry light is telling you that it’s time for a scheduled maintenance. If you’re not in the mood for a trip to the local service center, of if you want to save 20-30 bucks (that’s how they usually charge for turning it off), then this manual is for you. Read through and you’ll learn how to switch off that buzzing and blinking light. It’s a very easy procedure, just follow my guidelines and you’ll be alright. In a Toyota Camry Maint Reqd is a tiny yellow light on the dashboard – it’s right in your face, you won’t miss it.

See also my Camry 2015 Review and Toyota Camry 2016 article.

Hey there, everybody! If you’re an owner of a Toyota car, then I bet you’ve come across this yellow “Maint Reqd” inscription or light once or twice in your life. It’s not a big deal, don’t worry – your car is fine. This light means “Maintenance Required” and is just a way of telling you that you haven’t been to a service center lately. It helps to keep up with the maintenance schedule and is only there to help. Generally, the light turns on every couple of thousands of miles (sometimes 5K miles, sometimes less or more). As you might now, automobile manufacturers like to go safe and give out warranties for 3 to 5 years when we all know that their cars can and do work just fine for 10, 15, and even longer. It’s just a precaution thing, and that’s exactly the case with the Maint Reqd.

That Haunting Yellow Light

The yellow light starts blinking when you’re just a few hundred miles away from the scheduled mileage and lights up when you reach it. Whenever you see a yellow light or indicator on your dash board you should know that it’s time to visit the local service center or body shop to fix your tires, change the engine oil – stuff like that. When it comes to Maint Reqd Toyota Camry is probably the most persistent vehicle, as this bright light tends to appear a lot more often than with other Toyota cars. I can’t really tell you whether that’s accurate or not, but I had been driving a 2010 Camry a while ago, and that stupid yellow hickey used to bug me all the time, so, I guess that makes it true! Today we’ll talk about turning the Maint Reqd light off in the 2015 Camry; however, the procedure is almost identical in all the editions, so, you shouldn’t have any problems if you’re driving an older model.

Not The Most Accurate System In The World

Obviously, a lot of folks don’t have the time/money to go deal with maintenance, and thus, it makes sense to ignore this annoying beeping yellow light for some time and manually switch it off. And, by the way, this system is not ideal and it can start beeping even when you’re far from reaching the maintenance miles. For example, I know a lot of folks who’ve been complaining about the “Maint Reqd” turning on even though they’ve been to a Toyota service center just recently and did only 2-3K miles since then. I’m not trying to tell you that frequent visits to a service center are a band thing. On the contrary, I’m all about being safe, careful and thoughtful, but only when it’s due, you know?

This “Maint Reqd” light must never be simply ignored, but, at the same time, it’s not nearly as important as the “check engine” light, which means there might be something really serious going on with your engine. “Maintenance Required”, on the other hand, is just telling you that it’s time for a check-up (oil change). Generally, if it’s a new vehicle – under 100K miles – it means your car only needs a simple maintenance. You don’t have to drop everything and run (or, rather, drive) to the nearest service and immediately take care of this situation. Still, don’t let the laziness get the best of ya, ok? Otherwise you risk running into a lot of problems. As my friend says – “Don’t sweat until the sweat comes naturally”.

DIY Or How To Save 20-30 Bucks

Some drivers prefer to have this little “problem” fixed by experienced technicians, but, the truth is, it’s not that difficult to do it yourself; plus, you’ll save about 20-30 bucks (yep, that’s how much they’ll charge you for this simple job). A friend of mine who works at a certified Toyota dealership told me that this “Maint Reqd” light is linked to an internal mileage counter only; it’s not connected to any safety sensor, so, you won’t get in any serious trouble if you start messing with it :). Seriously, you don’t have to be a certified technician to deal with this little thing. Just follow my instructions and you and your car will be alight.

Dealing With A Maint Reqd Toyota Camry

What you need to do in order for that yellow light to stop beeping is to zero out the internal counter. Fortunately enough, this is a pretty straightforward and super-easy procedure. You can do it in a matter of seconds and still save some bucks. In terms of turning off the Maint Reqd Toyota Camry is probably the easiest one; you can switch it off in other Toyota brands relatively easily as well, but with the Camry it’s a piece of cake. So, here’s how to turn it off:

With the vehicle’s ignition on – meaning it’s started and ready to go – set the LCD odometer readout to total mileage by pushing the button (double check and make sure it’s not set to trip A or B). Turn the key to the off position and turn your Camry off. Next, push down and hold the button that turns on the odometer. Don’t let go yet! Turn your key once again – this time to “ON” position, but don’t start the car. If you’re doing it right you should see lots of lights turning on (oil, check engine – that kind of stuff).

Hard Blinking – Almost There

Keep your eyes on the odometer: it will start blinking really hard and then zero out. The second that happens you can congratulate yourself, because you just successfully reset the counter. Now you can release that odometer button (I bet your finger’s numb, huh?) Finally, turn key to Off. That’s it! That’s how you deal with a Maint Reqd Toyota Camry. Pretty easy, right? In this super-busy age nobody has the time or the will to visit a service center, pay up, and wait for them to do their job. So, this is a great alternative if you’re used to taking care of stuff on your own. As a general rule, if you’ve switched off the Maint Reqd light once and it starts beeping again later – in another +/- 5K miles – you should definitely not skip maintenance for the second time and take your car to the local service center.

By the way, folks have been reporting that this same procedure as about Maint Reqd Toyota Camry works with the Toyota Sienna as well (the latest model). If you’re driving a different Toyota brand (Prius, Tacoma, Highlander – whatever), or even a Honda, Ford, or Chevy, please do share your experience in the comments and tell us how to easily turn the Maint Reqd light off in your car. That’ll be a lot of help!

Watch this video How to Remove the Maintenance Required Light on a 2007-2011 Toyota Camry: