Stab a screwdriver through the indicator light. That should take care of it. It worked on my 81 chevy pickup to reset the "door open" buzzer. :-)

 

I had my first encounter with this problem last night--after 20K miles of driving. Numerous attempts to open and close it have met with no results. Thanks to everyone who posted here with suggestions and references to possible solutions!

 

Speaking of the gas cap, I just got bought my first tank of gas today and there's nowhere to put the gas cap while you are filling up. Sure it has the leash that keeps it attached to the car, but it just hangs there against the side of the car. Is there something that I don't see?

My previous car, a Jetta, had notches in the cap so you could stick it on the top of the open fuel door, and our other car, a Corolla, has a holder on the inside of the fuel door. It's really not that big of a deal but I don't want any possible scratches or damage from residual gas as the cap is sitting against the side of the car.

 

Count your blessings. My 04 has a place to hold the gas cap (it's pretty cheezy), but there's no leash. I would much rather have the leash. My old subaru did it the best, the cap was mounted on something like a hinge--securely attached and worked smoothly.

 

It has a place to slide the cap into. The 06 does!

 

It certainly does Harold. It's even in the manual. (Actually, I didn't know about it either until just recently - when I read about it IN the manual .
On the inside of the fuel-filler door, there is a wide U-shape that the threaded end of the cap slides into. Works just like it should.

 

Just curious about something; how do you get the "Check fuel cap" message to display? I removed my gas cap, checked the dashboard and could see no message saying "Check fuel cap".

And based on what I'm reading in this thread, I'm assuming that the message should be displaying on the little screen that shows oil life, trip meters, exterior temperature...is that correct?

 

I imagine after removing the fuel cap, you'll have to drive around a bit before the message shows up. I think it figures it out by tank pressurization and not by any physical switch around the gas cap so it is not an immediate indicator.

You are correct the message will vertically scroll in place of your oil life/trip meter/temperature/odometer LCD. I don't know why you'd want to do this on purpose as after it comes on it could take a few days to clear itself and the scrolling draws more attention to itself than the usual readouts.

 

I'm assuming you meant horizontally, rather than vertically.

I guess I just wanted to verify that if there really was a problem, that the sensor would detect it, and the message would be displayed to inform me.

 

I have been getting the message, during start-up, for over a week now. I keep hitting the reset button and the message goes away until the next time I start up. I am hoping this does not go on for a lot longer, but since it not impacting my ability to drive, I guess I can live with it. I have had others tell me they have gotten the indicator for a short time after re-fueling, which the manual also mentions. I guess the senor checks for fuel vapors in the air and it takes a few days (or a few weeks in my case !) for the sensor to "get the smell of gas out of it's nose".

Ironically, my Dodge Caravan had a "check Engine Soon" indicator a month or so ago and the diagnostic computer said it was a fuel vapor sensor.

I don't smell any gasoline, so don't believe I had a leak anywhere.