A light appears on the dash while you drive. Your first decision is the color, and the icon comes second. Color sets the urgency, and our dashboard lights tool encodes that priority as four levels across 20 lights.
The color rule
The dataset assigns each light exactly one level, with counts computed from it:
- Red, 7 lights. Stop the car safely and act now.
- Yellow, 8 lights. Drive with care and book service.
- Blue, 2 lights. An active system that affects other drivers.
- Green, 3 lights. Normal status, no action.
Red demands the shoulder. Yellow tolerates the rest of the trip. Blue and green only inform.
The four levels at a glance, straight from the dataset:
| Level | Count | Rule | Examples |
| Red | 7 | Stop safely and act now | Oil Pressure, Brake System, Seat Belt |
| Yellow | 8 | Drive with care, book service | Check Engine, ABS Fault, Low Fuel |
| Blue | 2 | Active system affecting others | High Beams, Windshield Heater |
| Green | 3 | Normal status | Signals, Low Beam, Fog Lights |
The seven red lights
Engine Fault, Oil Pressure, Battery and Charging, Brake System, Steering Lock, Door Open, and Seat Belt make up the red level.
Two of the seven surprise people. Door Open and Seat Belt sit in red because the tool treats risk to people as the emergency class, and both ask for an immediate stop or an immediate click. Oil Pressure carries the strongest wording in the dataset, shut the engine down at once, because running with no oil pressure can destroy the engine.
One entry in the red group carries a softer action. Battery and Charging tells you to visit service soon, because the car can still move on battery power even while the alternator fails. Plan the shortest route to a workshop, switch off what you can, from seat heaters to air conditioning, and expect the engine to die once the battery drains.
Safety guidance, clearly labeled: these are general reference actions from our dataset. Your owner's manual defines what each icon means in your specific car, and any brake or steering warning means a professional inspection before you drive on.
The eight yellow lights
Check Engine, Tire Pressure, Low Fuel, Service Time, ABS Fault, Airbag, Overheat, and Low Coolant form the yellow level.
The dataset encodes two rules inside this group. Check Engine separates flashing from steady, where flashing means critical and steady means service soon. Overheat carries a stop and cool instruction with an explicit warning to wait without opening the coolant cap, and drivers under rate it. Treat the temperature pair, Overheat and Low Coolant, with red level caution whenever steam is present or the gauge reads maximum.
The Low Fuel entry estimates 40 to 60 km of remaining range and labels the figure as typical rather than guaranteed. Your manual gives the real reserve for your tank.
ABS Fault comes with a reassurance that matters. Normal braking still works, and only the anti lock function is disabled. Leave more following distance in the wet and get the system checked.
Blue and green status lights
Two blue lights report systems that affect others. High Beams asks you to dim for oncoming traffic, and Windshield Heater switches off once the glass clears. Three green lights report normal state: turn signals, low beam, and fog lights. None of the five requires a stop, and two of them, high beams and fog lights, exist to be switched off when conditions change.
How the lookup behaves
1. Open the tool and all 20 lights list in one column.
2. Filter by level with the five buttons, All, Emergency, Warning, Info, and Normal.
3. Search by typing. The match runs on names only, as a case insensitive substring. Brake finds Brake System, while fluid finds nothing, because that word appears only inside descriptions.
4. Tap a row to expand the full description, and tap it again to collapse.
One implementation detail we verified in the source: the internal level keys are Turkish color words even in the English dataset. You never see them in the interface, but it explains why the filter values read kirmizi and sari in the code.
Limits
The dataset covers 20 common lights. Manufacturer meanings vary, and icons differ by brand and market. The tool gives class, action, and description, and it cannot read your car's fault codes. For anything red, or any yellow that persists across trips, the manual and a workshop come before this or any web reference.
Checklist when a light turns on
- [ ] Note the color before the icon.
- [ ] Red: pull over safely, and stop the engine for oil or temperature warnings.
- [ ] Check Engine flashing: treat it as critical and reduce load now.
- [ ] Coolant: never open the cap while the engine is hot.
- [ ] Yellow: confirm in the manual, then book service.
- [ ] Log what you saw, color plus icon, before you clear or forget it.
Run your light through the [dashboard warning lights tool](/en/dashboard-lights). If an icon in your car sits outside the 20, send the color, the name, and what your manual says, because the dataset grows from real clusters readers face.
