Vehicle Warning Lights

By Kimberly Graf. Published on May 11, 2025

Modern cars have so many lights on the dashboard, and it's not always easy to decipher what they mean. A lot of times, the symbols that are supposed to point to a certain system look nothing like what they're supposed to be. If you've got lights going off on your dashboard that you can't figure out, the best place to go is your owner's manual. You might not always have the same symbols as other makes or models, and the owner's manual has a complete list of your warning lights.

There are some more common ones, so we'll lay out what they mean below.

First off, there are some lights that are fairly easy to fix if you know what you're looking for. A lot of these aren't even mechanical issues! The most common dashboard light is the one that shows that one of the doors on your vehicle is open. When you're driving, this means that one of your doors wasn't shut correctly last time it was opened. Stopping to check all of your doors and make sure they're all secure will make this light go away.

Another common light is the seatbelt indicator. For the most part, this only refers to the driver, and it means that they are not wearing their seatbelt. It comes on by default when you first start the car and remains lit until you click the seat belt in.

You may notice a blue light showing up on your dashboard at night, when you have the headlights on bright. This is just to alert you that your high beams are on, and that you should turn them off for incoming drivers.

The last common and completely solvable warning light is the fuel indicator. This comes on when the fuel in your car is close to running out. For the most part, you have about a 35-mile range that you can still travel while this light is on. We wouldn't recommend pushing it quite that far, but in an emergency or a tight situation it's useful to know.

The others on our list are a little more complicated and might require professional evaluation to fix.

The first among these is, of course, the check engine light. If you've ever left the door to your gas cap open, you are familiar with this light. Other causes are numerous, and they don't always have to be scary. It usually means that there is some sort of deep mechanical problem that needs to be fixed.

Thankfully, you don't have to guess. You can get a code reader or take it to a shop that has one, and they will be able to pinpoint exactly what's wrong with your car. The check engine light indicates that there's an error code that these special computers can pinpoint.

When the check engine light is flashing, it's a good idea to stop driving the car until the problem is fixed – it may be dangerous.

The battery alert light exists to tell you that there's something wrong with your battery – that it's low on voltage, usually, or there's something wrong with the charging system.

The coolant temperature light really doesn't look like anything, but it exists to tell you that your engine is hotter than normal, and that's definitely a problem that needs to be checked out. Running a car at higher engine temperatures for too long can lead to every component of your engine needing replaced, and the car not being drivable. So when this happens, wait for it to cool down and get it to a shop to determine why the coolant isn't working.

The oil pressure light looks like an oil can. This can indicate that your car's oil levels are close to dangerously low, or there is a leak in the pressurized system. The oil being low is the most common cause of this light.

You might also get an oil change reminder light, which usually goes on the mileage that you've traveled since it was last reset by a shop. You can reset it, but for the most part, you should head its warning and get to a shop for an oil change.

The brake system light may mean a variety of things, including that the parking brake is set. Make sure that you release it before driving. Otherwise, it could mean that brake fluid is low, so make sure to check that out – it's important that your brake system functions properly. Brake lines run to each tire, so if you see a large quantity of fluid seeping out from under a particular tire you might have busted a brake line.

The ABS light is another brake system indicator that will tell you when your Anti-Lock Brake system is not properly functioning. Like a check engine light, this puts out an error code that you can have checked to see what exactly is wrong.

And finally, the tire pressure monitoring light is also important. This light could mean that one of your tires is low, and sometimes driving on low tires can lead to a flat or a blowout tire. If all of your tires look about the same, it might be that one of the sensors on the tire is cracked or missing. Replace that small part and the notification should go away.

Owning a car is a lot of responsibility, but thank goodness that there are warning and indicator lights to tell us what's wrong with the car. Otherwise, your mechanic would charge you a lot more just to troubleshoot and figure it out.

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