Klaus,

Thanks for the helpful, if slightly scary, information. The problem has not occurred again (so far); although this is my wife's, not my, daily driver, I have driven it somewhat, and I was cleaning pitch off the bodywork again today, this being the season that our cedar tree throws pitch like it's weeping for the world; so there have been opportunities for it to act up again. But it hasn't.

The indicator lights to the left of the instruments are all lighting at startup and then going out, and there are no messages in the center of the tachometer, where the information messages appear.

I hope to change the battery in my remote today. Then we'll just watch it. The car's still under warranty until September, so, if there is an issue, it'd be nice to have it surface soon.