Power Steering icon lit on new 2010 Prius

I bought a new 2010 (Gen III) Prius IV one week ago. I have driven it less than 200 miles. Last night, I experienced a few seconds of steering wheel shaking while driving at highways speeds. I assumed I had hit uneven pavement. At no point was it difficult to turn the wheel. But after the shaking, the car seemed to sometimes drift to one or the other edge of the lane. I chalked that up to unfamiliarity with the car and to rain and darkness. Today, I read Forum posts that described the lighter touch that usually helps and the importance of wheel alignment.

After the shaking, another 45 minutes of driving, and a half hour parked, I headed home on a slower road. That is when my wife noticed that the Electric Power Steering warning light was on. We are both pretty sure it was off before that. This morning, I pulled out of the garage and back in, and turned the wheel both ways as it moved. The light did not come on.

I called the dealer to discuss what had occurred. I made a service appointment for Monday so they can check it out. Someone in a Gen II forum (where I mistakenly posted this at first) advised me to pull over and take an evidence photo of the light if it comes on again.

The PS warning light wouldn't be too surprising to see in a Prius driven tens of thousands of miles. If yours ever came on when your Prius had low mileage, I'd be curious to know the outcome. And any advice is welcome.

Correction 22 Nov 2010: I feel both embarrassed and relieved. I misidentified a benign icon as the EPS warning light.

The mechanic became suspicious when he couldn't find any code or any trouble. We sketched the icon we remembered seeing for the service supervisor. He explained that it was the cruise control light. I either forgot I had turned cc on or I had pushed it accidentally when I operated the wipers.

The cc light isn't pictured on the warning light cheat sheet at the end of the manual even though it signals a mild warning when it is on and a serious warning when it flashes. The closest thing to it on the cheat sheet is the PS light--but it looks "close" only if you look at it upside down and squint.

Well, um, it can also look "close" if the only other Toyota you ever bought (a 1965 Corona) turned out to be a lemon. And if, after 45 years, you had just, very reluctantly, broken your self-promise never to buy another Toyota...

I'll make sure to keep the floor mats on their hooks.

 

Well, it was, quite literally, a false alarm (see my edited post above) so my 2010 did not really have this problem.

The dealership was great. And they didn't charge me for the service.