Marc Favreau

The author has 25 years of automotive experience and has assembled the most extensive collection of symbols and warning lights anywhere (over 1,000!) and can help you open and start any keyless start car with a dead key fob battery. BA, St. Joseph's College, ME: MS, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY

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At Last a Useful Warning on an Automotive Instrument Panel!

A Useful Warning!

Today has been cold with light snow. Coupled with the salts dropped on the pavement, this made for very dirty spray all over everyone’s car, including mine.

As a result, when I slowed to park the warning below was displayed in the center of my instrument panel…

Clean sensors warning

We have railed for years about the uselessness of warning lights as well as too many of the notifications seen in message displays. Like here, or here. But this one lays it out perfectly!

The Warning

The Park Assist symbol in the upper left is accompanied by the warning that the system’s sensors are blocked and need to be cleaned! Exactly what the driver – me, in this case – needs to do, and exactly what would logical to expect!

As far as we at DashboardSymbols.com are concerned each and every warning light that appears on an instrument panel should be accompanied by instructions that are as specific as possible.

The car’s computer knows what is needed, and its high time it communicated with its driver properly. In most cases the fix will involve a qualified service shop, but at minimum the driver will have the knowledge necessary to communicate with that shop.

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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.

These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.

Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2024/01/at-last-a-useful-warning-on-an-automotive-instrument-panel/

Disabling a Key Fob Could Prevent Car Theft

New Suzuki FobDisabling a Fob

We came across a video some time ago from Now You Know – linked here – where a Toyota guy highlighted a Toyota key fob feature: Disabling a Key Fob. Press and hold the lock button, and while doing so, press the unlock button twice. This disables the proximity access feature of the fob.

We then verified it on a Toyota as well and it works! See the video below.

Now, not to worry, a simple press of the unlock button not only gets you in the car, it also restores the proximity feature.

But we’re not Toyota guys, so we set out to test as many cars as we could get our hands on. But before we get there, why is this even important?

The proximity feature of a fob only works within about 18 inches of a lock. But the fact is, clever thieves can tap into the signal from a live fob even though its seemingly not in use. Likely as not you’ve had the experience of using an unlock or lock button from 50 ft or even more. I can lock/unlock my car from a good 70 ft.

This is the signal that can be tapped from a live fob, essentially duplicated on a computer and your car is gone. The video is from CNN is right here.

And it can be done while you’re at home and the car is in you’re driveway! This is the value of the disabled fob feature.

What of Other Manufacturers

So who else? We tried a Nissan, but no dice. Actually, it turns that two Nissan models we tested do not lock or unlock with a touch of the door handle, so disabling is unnecessary. We tried a Dodge, which again did not work.

We then tested a Lexus, which is a Toyota product, it did work. It did not work on an Audi, a Volvo, a Polestar, an Acura, a Volkswagen or a BMW.

So, this is a call to all manufacturers to implement the feature, and to you the owner of any Toyota and Lexus models to use the feature. And if you have a model from a manufacturer that we didn’t test, try it and let us know in the comments if it worked – or not.

We did a video on the subject, linked below.

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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.

These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.

Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2024/01/disabling-a-key-fob-could-prevent-car-theft/

Most Visited Pages and Posts on DashboardSymbols.com in 2023

Check engine mid2023 in Review

Typically at the beginning of the year, we take a look at the most visited pages and posts from the previous year — 2023 in this case.

However, Google Analytics made a major swap in August leaving us with with only five months of data, so that’s all we can report on. In truth, what we see over that period looks an awful lot like what we’ve seen in the past.

Top Pages and Posts

Of the over 1.5 million pages and posts visited, the top spot goes to a page dedicated to Jeep warning lights and symbols. And its been the top viewed page for several years running. Clearly a brand throwing too many problems at its owners 56,000 of you.

Another 40,000+ Ram owners found themselves on the site searching our Ram warning lights and symbols page, which came in at #4. Clearly FCA or Stellantis or whatever they are calling themselves these days have some work to do to improve vehicle reliability.

Jumping back to #2, we find the Check Engine Light page, representing one of the few remaining symbols that’s actually nearly universal across brands. One version is on the upper right of this article. The symbol pops up generally when an emissions control issue rears its head, as it did for nearly 50,000 of our visitors over the last five months of 2023.

Our overall Symbols page comes in at #3 with 45,000 visits. The page leads to some 800 image style symbols to search for a match.

Our Home page is at #5 with 34,500 visits. It of course, links to everything on the site.

Our pages holding Suzuki and Nissan warning lights and symbols come in at numbers 6 and 7, both with about 30,000 visits. And a symbol commonly seen in these vehicles, the Slip Indicator, comes in at #8. Models built in Japan are notorious for throwing this light when a gas cap is left loose!

Finally at #9 is the Electronic Throttle Control trouble indicator with over 27,000 visits. It gets to stand in for the myriad of newer electronic systems giving drivers newer headaches!

A final note — when an electronic system throws a light, it can often be resolved by simply restarting the vehicle. At that point its just like rebooting a computer. Exactly like rebooting a computer…

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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.

These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.

Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2024/01/most-visited-pages-and-posts-on-dashboardsymbols-com-in-2023/

The Ever-growing Dashboard Symbols Saga…

A Short History

Some 13 years ago when we started this site, we believed that the driving public had no idea what it was up against in trying to understand the warning lights and dashboard symbols being thrown at them by their car’s instrument panel.

We had no idea where this would lead.

The Symbols Count

We now host 986 (now over 1000!) of warning lights and indicators! Nine hundred and eighty six! Most are image-style indicators but there are also nearly 200 text indicators.

Every year we update the warning lights from 47 manufacturers who have or currently do sell vehicles in North America and we made the mistake of counting them last week.

If this sounds absurd to you, well we couldn’t agree more. The table below illustrates the problem.

Suspension symbols
Suspension setting and malfunction indicators -- click for moreDamping control fault indicatorSuspension setting symbol
More suspension setting and malfunction indicators -- click for moreSuspension malfunction indicator
Even more suspension setting and malfunction indicators -- click for moreAir suspension protection indicator
Air suspension up indicatorYet more suspension setting and malfunction indicators -- click for moreAir suspension down indicatorAir suspension fault indicator
Air suspension indicatorStill more suspension setting and malfunction indicators -- click for moreAir suspension setting indicator
Suspension setting indicatorAnd still more suspension setting and malfunction indicators -- click for moreSuspension mode indicator
Lowering indicatorYes still more suspension setting and malfunction indicators -- click for moreRaising indicator
Alt trailer height indicatorYes still more suspension setting and malfunction indicators -- click for moreBed low indicator

If you count them, you’ll find 22 different images representing suspension systems. Essentially every manufacturer gets to choose an image style to use. Some include text, which is helpful, and others include a sketch of a vehicle, which is also helpful.

But note the pair that look like a hat with an arrow inside and others that don’t bear any resemblance to anything an average person can relate to!

Idiot lights, or tell-tales, as they are known only in the industry, were designed to help drivers who didn’t understand how to read a gauge and to get your attention. To those who actually did know how to read the gauges, and watched them like a hawk, the tell-tales came to be known as Idiot lights. And the term stuck.

However, in today’s vehicles, there could never be a corresponding gauge to compliment a Check Engine light, or the ABS (anti-lock brake) light for example. There actually could be a pressure gauge associated with air suspension systems represented by some of the symbols in the table. But the industry is long past gauges.

There may be 30 to 40 picture or text tell-tales on a modern instrument panel, each connected to some system in your car. We’ve counted as many as one hundred in some models! And they may illuminate in twos and threes if a problem is detected. That is, a problem with one system causes other systems that are dependent on the first to be shut off. Each of those systems will have an associated, and now illuminated, tell-tale. Today, a driver needs to be an automotive prodigy to know what’s going on.

We’ve called on the industry to trash this near useless system in the past in favor of the car actually telling a driver what’s up and what they can and can’t do. The information is in the vehicle’s computer, but is accessible only to technicians with the proper equipment.

There has been some talk of simplification, but we update the symbols in new cars every year, and when we’re done with 2024, we can assure you that another 30 to 50 symbols will be added to our pages.

We think you, the driver needs help and we are here to do just that. We ultimately hope that the way vehicles communicate with drivers is changed. In the meantime, if you are confused by the symbols that show up on your instrument panel, bookmark this site. We’ll do everything we can to help you not feel like an an “Idiot”!

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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.

These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.

Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.

 

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2023/12/the-ever-growing-dashboard-symbols-saga/

Charging an Electric Car: The Basics You Need to Get Started

Just Plug it In?

Charging an electric car or electric vehicle (EV) might well seem mysterious to the uninitiated, so we’ve set out here to simplify the charging process. Just like charging your smartphone, at first blush the car just needs to be plugged in.

There are three levels of charging that, in effect, move from slow to fast. They are aptly named Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3. The first two levels can be done at home, and descriptions of all three are next.

Opportunities to Charge at Home

120V connectorLevel 1: This level requires only a standard 110V/120V plug found in your home or apartment. A grounded adapter, like the one shown to the right, will have been supplied with the car. Charging at Level 1 adds 3 to 4 miles of range per hour of charging.

Level 2: This level requires can use a standard 220V/240V outlet, like one you may have available for a household clothes dryer and adds range at 15 to 20 miles per hour of charging. This is a superior option easily “filling” your car overnight and the adapter, likely supplied with 240V connectorthe car, is shown to the right.

However, we recommend having a charging station set up at your home as there are many tax incentives available that can be taken advantage of. The stations will allow for additional programming to take advantage of lower electricity rates. The car itself can likely do this as well, but the station set up will avoid the hassle of unplugging an d plugging in your dryer over and over.

Note that there are public Level 2 chargers available in some municipalities intended for shoppers or restaurant goers to charge while shopping or eating. They might even be free. The results will only be 20 to 30 miles of range added in most cases.

Fast Charging On the Road

Level 3: This is fast charging public networks using direct current (DC) and is not something available for set up at home. These stations can add up to 600 miles of range per hour of charging depending on both what the car will allow and what the charge station can supply! Further, the chargers are specifically tied to charging standards set by manufacturers, but in the majority of cases, you will spend roughly 30 minutes charging to 80% charge. Please follow this link to learn why you should actually stop there!

EV ConnectorsThere are three standards: Combined Charging System (CCS), CHAdeMO (CHArge de(for) MOve(ing)), and North American Charging Standard (NACS). We’ll ignore the second one, which was developed in Japan, and you should as well in deciding on a purchase as it is used by only a handful of manufacturers, has only a small charging network, and is being superseded. Due to simplicity, lighter weight cabling and extensive network, the NACS standard, a Tesla creation, is slowly being adopted by nearly all auto manufacturers selling vehicles here in the U.S. However, be absolutely sure the connectors on the car are correct if you choose something other than a Tesla and wish to use its network.

The CCS standard does have a significant and useful charging network from a number of suppliers, most notably Electrify America and EVgo, and is used currently by the majority of non-Tesla auto manufacturers. There is no reason to shy away from a vehicle using these Level 3 chargers. Some Tesla stations have been Home chargeradapted to charge CCS-equipped cars as well, but they are few and far between currently. Finally, the CCS network will also be transformed to handle the NACS standard.

Just know that the vast majority of us do only local driving and the easiest and most efficient means of charging is with a Level 2 station set up at home, like the one seen to the right. You’ll never need to pump gas again, never be overcharged for an oil change again, and will always leave home with a full “tank”!

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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.

These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2023/12/charging-an-electric-car-the-basics-you-need-to-get-started/

Are You Seeing a Horseshoe-shaped Dashboard Warning Light?

What is the Horseshoe-shaped Dashboard Warning Light?

Its cold weather time again and time again to speak about the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS), and its associated warning light(s). Every year several million more drivers who have recently upgraded their cars will encounter the light for the first time.

Tire Pressure Monitor SymbolRare Tire Pressure Light w/ArrowsThese are two versions of the TPMS light, and either one is easily the most misunderstood warning light you’ll find on your instrument panel. And the fact that its shaped like a horseshoe doesn’t help.

First, unlike other yellow/amber lights, there is nothing wrong with your car — it presents you information about your tires and likely as not there’s nothing actually wrong with them either.

Why the Light Is On

There are two possible reasons why you are seeing this light. First, as the weather cools the most likely possibility is that all four of your tires are low on air (and/or the spare!). The second possibility is that one tire has a leak of some sort, but we’ll return to that in a moment.

Air expands when heated and contracts when cooled. Air that has cooled and contracted in your tires leads to reduced tire pressure. The warning light comes on and air needs to be added to your tires. Its important to note that air has not actually leaked out.

TPMS displayBut the warning light does not discriminate between cooling air and actual air leaks. It comes on if one tire is low or all four is low, so more information is needed. Your model may or may not include a display option like the one shown. It is a read out of the tire pressure in the individual tires. If all four tires read roughly the same, within a pound or two, the warning light is the result of seasonal cooling.

And while on the subject,  a thought for manufacturers. Every vehicle equipped with the tire pressure warning light simply must be equipped with this display. Leaving your customers in the dark by displaying the warning light only is unacceptable to us.

Now, if one tire is several pounds lower than the others, 5, 6 or 7 pounds or more, that tire is leaking and needs to be serviced as soon as possible.

If your vehicle is one that features only the warning light, the tire pressures need to be checked by hand to determine the cause — a single leak or seasonal reduction in all four.

If you’re not comfortable checking your tire pressures or with filling them, the good news is that pretty much every tire store, repair shop or car dealer will fill them for you at no cost. Its simple for them to do and they make a friend in the process, meaning more business from you down the road. Please drop in on one of them.

Tire pressure labelIf you are comfortable with checking your tire pressures and adding air, by all means do so. But you will first need to know the required tire pressure. Look for a label just below where the driver’s door latches. The required pressures will be shown. They will match left to right but will likely be a little different front to rear. Set the pressure on the pump and trust it. It will stop pumping once the proper pressure is reached. You may also find yourself using a pump with a built in gauge. Trust it as well and be sure to add your spare tire to the routine.

Each tire valve has a cap that needs to be unscrewed and removed. Don’t lose it — it keeps water and dirt out and will keep the valve from developing a leak.

Learn more about this warning symbol here.

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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.

These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.

Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow. And when it comes to the current state of flux in the auto industry, nothing is more true.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2023/12/are-you-seeing-a-horseshoe-shaped-warning-light/

EV Charging: Whose Electric Vehicles Have the Fastest Charging Speed?

Speed Kills? Not Here!

Back in July, we posted on the efficiency of electric vehicles, or EVs, using miles per kilowatt as the metric. You can see that post here.

But whose electric vehicles have the fastest charging speed?

We promised to then post on charging efficiency or charging speed when DC, or Level 3, charging. This proved to be a really difficult nut to crack as manufacturers throw numbers around that are near meaningless and mostly self serving. Whatever number makes their car or cars look good, they will use. There is no standard metric. Or at least there wasn’t until now.

The Real Pros

Enter Edmunds.com. Working with P3, they have the resources and the access to do this properly and have researched the topic which has culminated in their article, Which EVs Charge the Fastest? The link will take you there.

So we will defer to them on the topic — they will do it best, and have already done it. By all means when doing research on your next or first EV, check out their work.

They tested charge rates when batteries are at 10% charge and charged only to 80%, which is exactly how you should charge your car at a DC or Level 3 charge station. By stopping at 80% charge, you spare a battery’s overall lifespan and better maintain its long-term performance. Charging power for most, if not all, vehicles also significantly slows beyond 80% (see the charge curve and discussion below), so it’s generally best to unplug at that point. Its the best use of your time as well as the car’s battery and frees up the charging station.

We’ll make one notable observation. In our efficiency research, Hyundai’s fleet was second only to Lucid and tied with Tesla. You can see it in our previous post. Edmunds testing places two Hyundai models and one Kia — same manufacturer — at the very top of charging speed! So, not only does Hyundai come in with the best range but many of their models charge the fastest as well!

Edmund’s leaderboard is here. They use an interesting metric of miles added per hour while DC charging, leading to numbers that do not reflect range! The Ioniq 6 adds range (charges) at 868 miles per hour! This does not mean that the car will go 868 miles when done charging. It means it will hit its roughly 300 mile range and be done charging well before the rest of the field!

The next fastest charging model that is not a Hyundai or Kia is the Porsche Taycan at 690 miles per hour, a full 20% less. The first Tesla is the Model 3 at 569 mi/hr, 35% slower than the Ioniq 6.

A final note here. All EVs feature a charge curve, like the one shown below from P3. It’s a little difficult to read, but reading it is not the point (you can read it here). All of vehicles shown behave in a very similar fashion, and yours will too. They start fast and finish slow. It is the nature of today’s battery technology and stopping at 80% is best for you, the battery and the charging public. Adding another 10% could take as long as the first 70!

Fastest charging speeds

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Remember that only proper service and repair procedures will ensure the safe and reliable operation of your car. In addition, proper safety procedures and precautions, such as the use of safety goggles, the right tools and the equipment should be followed at all times to eliminate the possibility of personal injury or improper service which could damage the vehicle or compromise its safety.

These posts are for information sharing purposes only, and should not be used in lieu of an OEM service manual or factory authorized service procedure. We are not in the auto repair business nor do we publish automotive service manuals. Nothing we include on these pages and posts has been reviewed, approved or authorized by any vehicle manufacturer.

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2023/11/ev-charging-whose-electric-vehicles-have-the-fastest-charging-speeds/