The IMA does not go 'blink-blink' when this problem happens. And yes, I do release my foot mostly from the gas pedal. Sometimes it has happened when my foot hasn't been on the gas pedal at all (coasting in 5th, then downshift from 5th to 4th on freeway to slow down for traffic flow).

Today I noticed a new twist to the tale - it now occasionally 'stalls out' (probably the easiest way to describe the mess I stated earlier) and only the 'check battery' light comes on, but not the 'check engine'.

Only another 2,500 miles to the 20,000 mile checkup at the dealer. I'll likely wait til then to have them look for a bad electrical ground or something.

...because you'll see me passing everybody at 90 miles per hour going up mountains.