Category: Articles & Commentaries

Discussions on topics of interest to drivers concerning things they may not understand about their vehicles as well as articles on the future of the auto industry.

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 more
	More suspension setting and malfunction indicators -- click for more
	Even more suspension setting and malfunction indicators -- click for more
	Yet more suspension setting and malfunction indicators -- click for more
	Still more suspension setting and malfunction indicators -- click for more
	And still more suspension setting and malfunction indicators -- click for more
	Yes still more suspension setting and malfunction indicators -- click for more
	Yes still more suspension setting and malfunction indicators -- click for more

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.

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

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

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.

These 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.

But 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.

If 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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Marc Favreau

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

Polestar EV Body Repair Frustrations and Resolutions

EV Body Repair Frustrations

So here’s a post I never expected or ever wanted to make.

I did what is seen to the right to my Polestar 2. Yes it actually was my fault. And as bad as it looks thankfully its all cosmetic and no one got hurt.

The post is not about my first accident in decades involving another car. What’s at issue is the absurd and truly frustrating experience I had getting the car repaired. Where and how to get body work is not a question one anticipates asking when getting a new car.

And I frankly in good conscience could not recommend what is a terrific car to anyone until after spending several months back and forth with Polestar Connect, which is the phone number you see below, and the key to what I’m going to tell you.

After the accident, I was able to get an estimate at one of two body shops recommended by my insurance company, and you see it here, just about $6,500. However, they called several days later declining the job because they couldn’t get information needed to actually do the repair. I was able to confirmed with them later that this was strictly about the proper handling of the high voltage battery.

EVs aren’t rocket ships — they are still primarily sheet metal and paint. But all EV manufacturers need to be forthcoming with whatever information is needed in order to work on their cars.

The two Polestar dealers in the area stated flatly that there was only one shop certified to work on the car. The dealers are part of the same dealer group and use the same shop.

Further, I was not allowed to simply go to that shop and get an estimate. No! The car needed to be put on a flat bed, trucked to the shop, after which an estimate would be done and the car would sit until parts arrived and the work was done!

It’s All Wrong

This is just wrong. First of all, being a part of this industry for 30 odd years, I can tell you the process goes like this: If the car is drivable, and mine was, one goes to the shop, gets an estimate, as I managed to do, and one returns home. Parts are ordered and when they arrive one drives the car back and leaves it for repair. A week, two weeks, three weeks later, depended on the damage, the car is done and one returns to pick it up.

I was in a rental car for 12 and half weeks. On the order of eight of those weeks were spent waiting for parts. This is simply not acceptable.

Second, not having a choice of body shops is a prescription for abuse. The original estimate, above, just about $6500. On the right is the certified shop’s estimate. This is not a joke, over $21,000! More than three times the original! A disclaimer is needed here as it is often the case that more damage is found once the work begins, but I don’t ever recall seeing a job jump by a factor of three!

To their credit, my insurer, #StateFarm, did not blink an eye. They get an A+. #PolestarCars on the other hand needed to be taken to task.

This is where the phone number shown comes in. As noted, I spent a good deal of time going back and forth with a Polestar rep looking to turn this on its head. They were in fact very helpful and went all the way to HQ in Sweden for a definitive answer, and it is this: Polestar is a spin off of Volvo and any Volvo store’s certified body shop can work on the car. In my area this alone triples the available options.

But it won’t be so simple. I tried to get an estimate from that local Volvo store before handing it over to the flatbed, only to be told they couldn’t work on the car. Turns out they’re wrong.

Secondly, in point of fact most new car dealers today regardless of manufacturer do not have thier own body shops and contract with local shops to do their work. A friend who drives a Lexus was sent by Lexus to the same shop I got the initial estimate from. In fact, that same shop is sometimes sent work from the local Volvo store.

So I’m going to go out on a limb and tell you that you can choose any decent body to do the work. They very likely have plenty of Volvo experience. So have your preferred body shop’s number handy, get on that Polestar connect number below and ask that a Technical Operations Specialist call your shop with the necessary information.

Better yet, don’t do what I did. Don’t get into an accident…

A final disclaimer: I had an accidental encounter with a staffing official from Polestar at a charging station. I relayed my story and he noted that they had a very difficult time getting good people in place at Polestar Connect, and that it was only staffed to his satisfaction in July of 2022, which is just about the time I had the accident. The representative I ultimately dealt with beginning in August was in fact terrific.

If you have your own experience with body repair on an electric car, good or bad, let us know in the comments below. Lets let the world know what’s happening so we can get it fixed. And if you’re getting push back from Polestar, leave us a comment here or send us a note. I’ll be more than happy to remind them of the results of my experience.

Marc Favreau

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2023/01/polestar-ev-body-repair-frustrations-and-resolutions/

Can Your Car Windows Open on Their Own??

Why Are My Windows Open?

If you’ve ever walked out to your car and found all the windows open, this is our subject. We’re going to discuss a feature found in cars from a number of manufacturers that catches people with their pants down. Or their windows down. This is not about a fault or a system failure or a warning light, but about something working exactly as it is supposed to, but doing it seemingly at random on its own.

Vehicles made by BMW and Mini, Honda and Acura, Ford and Lincoln, Maserati, Mercedes, Toyota and Lexus and Volkswagen Group, include what is called a convenience feature, which opens all the windows for ventilation when the unlock button is pressed and held. The sunroof will be open as well and the car unlocked.

From what we’ve discovered only Mercedes and some vehicles made by the Volkswagen Group offers the option to close everything again using the lock button. The Honda we have here does not.

Its An Accident!

So, what is causing the surprise window openings can be explained by accidental button pushes. Whether carried in a bag or in a pocket, something pressing on the unlock button for an extended period can and will activate the feature, if the key fob is within 50 feet or so. Remember that while the key fob’s keyless access can only operate within 18 to 24 inches of the vehicle, the buttons on the fob will work from a much greater distance.

For a fob carried in a pocket, preventing this may be a simple as turning the fob over on the key ring. The buttons will face the other way, if like me, your keys rest in the pocket the same way each time.

If it is carried in a bag, the nature of keyless open and start can easily lead to the fob migrating to the bottom of the bag. In this case, you might try using a device like this carabiner or snap hook. It can be hooked to a strap like on this computer bag and still actually be closed into the bag. But it won’t work its way to the bottom. The devices come in many different sizes and colors so you can be a stylish as you’d like and they can be found online or at most hardware stores.

To finish off the functions of the actual convenience feature, the windows will stop short if the button is released, and will continue down if it is pressed and held yet again. Some vehicles require the unlock button to be pressed and released once before the convenience feature will work. In Honda and Acura vehicles, the feature will work by holding the mechanical key turned to the right in the key cylinder, but this will not happen accidently. Also, turning and holding the key back to the left will close the windows and sunroof.

The feature can be disabled in Ford Motor Co and Toyota and Lexus vehicles, but you’ll need your dealer. In fact, the feature in a Toyota and Lexus must have first been activated in this way.

So, if ever you find your windows wide open one day, don’t panic — find a new way to carry your key fob.

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Marc Favreau

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2019/09/can-your-car-windows-open-on-their-own/

Poor Service Communication, Part II

Communication Sets the Tone

A few weeks ago (April 2019), we focused on how poorly service personnel often communicate with their customers, using examples that in the end lead to several customers being underserved.

Two weeks later the tables turned, and so we want to pass along how it can often be necessary to translate what a customer is saying into a solvable problem. Which is to say that no matter who may be communicating poorly, the onus stays on the service side.

A Success

We got a call from a driver who had been unable to get into her Cadillac Escalade. Her key fob had died and the car hides its keyhole in two very different ways, but those ways look nearly identical.

This cap (right) at the back of the driver’s door handle hides the key hole and it, or some part of it, needs to be removed. The slot shown in the image did not exist on the earlier version of the Escalade she had, and she had not found our video for the proper process. Cadillac in their infinite wisdom changed the cap removal process in the middle of 2017 model year.

To her credit, she did not try to force off the cap, which would have damaged the car. But here is where things went sideways.

As I explained that the top 1/8 inch piece of the cap needed to be pushed to the side, she attempted to assure me that she understood by saying, “so the platinum piece is what needs to be removed.”

My immediate reaction internally was that there isn’t a car on the planet with a drop of visible platinum. The vehicle wouldn’t be in anyone’s price range. So I asked to clarify. She pretty much repeated the same thing, but it dawned on me that she was describing the color of the outermost portion of the cap. Platinum as a color, not a metal.

Translation successful.

Another Success

This brought me back to another phone call where a driver called in to a dealership I was working at saying there was a red light blinking on her instrument panel. I asked here to describe it. She said a man riding a horse!

I thought for a moment and asked if she had her seat belt on. She didn’t and can you imagine it?

Another successful translation.

A Embarrassing Failure

Which takes us to a very embarrassing failure. A lady approached a parts department counter I worked at years ago and said she wanted to get her husband a hide a bed. There were three of us standing there, and we were mildly successful at holding back a laugh, because we all collectively saw this in our heads.

None of us were able to translate her request until after she had left clearly flustered. And in just a few minutes. Frankly we were embarrassed as well.

She wanted a pick-up truck bed liner. A truly failed translation, and frankly a lost sale.

Now I don’t know any useful procedure for fixing this. But I can add a bit that might help. The lady describing a piece as platinum could easily have been an artist, accustomed to many more color names than most of us. I know for sure that the driver not wearing her seat belt lived in equestrian country and is likely rider. And the lady looking for a hide a bed is simply likely more comfortable talking household items than truck parts.

The last one is the easiest to address by far, which is to suggest that parts and service personnel recognize that most women will likely be at the greatest disadvantage and certainly don’t need to be condescended to.

From all three we can say that knowing your potential audience will go a long way in helping to translate people language to an automotive variant. The auto world truly has its own language.

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Marc Favreau

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2019/04/poor-service-communication-part-ii/

Poor Communication Makes for Poor Service

Communication is Key

As a result of two 2019 incidents involving two different individuals and two very different issues, we want to talk about service, from both sides of the counter. The bottom line in both is very poor communication. And the fault, for better or worse, lies with the service personnel.

What Battery Problem?

The first involved a routine oil change and a battery. In the course of changing the oil in my friend’s car, the dealer evidently did a battery check. What was conveyed to the owner by the service writer was that the battery was at “75%”, which was changed a moment later to “50%”.

Now the point here is that the information, while it might actually have some meaning, was meaningless to my friend. There was no indication of what test was performed and how it was performed and the meaning of the percentages.

With today’s maintenance free batteries, its difficult but not impossible to test the electrolyte in individual cells. There may be screw caps that can be removed, but more commonly, one entire side of the top of the battery would need to be pried off.

At this point, you can do an electrolyte test. Here is where percentages may result, but as you would be able to see from the chart to the right if it were larger, the results are temperature dependent and certainly don’t vary a full 25% at any given temperature.

A load test may have been done, which is also temperature dependent, and it can identify a bad cell in the battery simply by the drop in voltage. Anything below a value at a given temperature shown indicates a bad cell, but percentages are not a result.

Now, there are two ends to this story. The first, because the information given didn’t seem credible, the owner opted not to replace his battery. It hadn’t given him a problem.

The second is that a month later, his battery died.

In hindsight, its quite likely that whatever test that was done actually did find a weak battery. But nearly all of us step into a service department with a little skepticism, ready to say no to any add on service. This makes it critical for service personnel to communicate fully and patiently to any customer in the case of something truly necessary. As it happens, my friend is pretty well informed and would have understood a properly explained test.

Tire “Patching”

The second situation is a tire issue, and led to a cascade of mistakes. It started with a leaking front tire and the tire shop my second friend visited said that the tire could be patched.

Now this friend is not so well informed, and when she asked my opinion after the fact, the very look on her face when she said the word patch said it all. This is what the word meant to her! There was no way that she could envision a “band aid” being the proper repair!

So we have error one by the tire store, and by a supposedly experienced person. Its not a patch. What they would have used is this version of a plug! A long cylindrical piece of rubber that is pushed into the the hole, made by a nail in this case. A plug would have made far more sense to my friend and would have been a perfectly satisfactory repair.

The alternative she was given was to buy not one but two tires, which was actually accurate. Given the wear on the tires, buying one was not the proper service. We’ll come back to this.

We are now at mistake number two. The new tires were left on the front. And I don’t care what your own instincts are or what your experience tells you, this is flat out wrong. The best tread belongs in the back of the car to keep the trailing tires in line with the front tires.

Take a look at Michelin Tire’s web site for a video that will show this far better than I can explain it.

How Many Tires?

Which brings us to mistake number 3. Remember, once it was decided to replace the leaking tire, a second tire was necessary. The question then is why, and is it possible that all 4 should have been replaced!

The answer lies in the difference in tread depth. There is some amount of competing information out there, but a good rule of thumb is that if the tire depths vary by 30% or more, the mate on the other side needs to be replaced as well, and if the other two tires are also outside this spec, all 4 must be replaced. This is to protect the axles from coming apart due to wheels turning at different speeds, particularly on all wheel drive vehicles, as hers is.

Now, her new tires measured at 10/32s, like the gauge shows here. The older tires measured at 4/32. This is way outside 30%. The back tires would have needed 7 to 8/32 to qualify.

The supposedly experienced salesman insisted this didn’t matter, but she bought the two additional tires regardless. And she was right to do it.

Now lots of people would have replaced their tires once they were down to 4/32. Note that the wear bars in tires are set at 2/32, which is the end of the line, and pretty much where my tires are now. I’ll be buying 4 very soon. So while she might have been able to stretch her tires another few thousand miles, it didn’t hurt to put new tires on.

But all of this began with the word patch, and while it is in common use in the industry, if you’re a service person, it rests on your shoulders to understand that it could very well have an entirely different meaning to your customers.

And this is easily true in any service business in any industry. What is common knowledge to you is very likely foreign to your customers. That’s why they come to you in the first place. So hold tight to the idea that words matter. And buyer beware be damned, if you’re in a service business, the responsibility belongs to you.

Check out Part II from a few weeks later.

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Marc Favreau

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2019/02/poor-communication-makes-for-poor-service/

Alfa Romeo Adds to Auto Symbol Overload

Too Many Symbols!

We recently took our first look at an Alfa Romeo. In the last two years they have new, more mainstream models, the Giulia sedan and Stelvio SUV, which boosted overall sales and begged for coverage.

First up we created our usual back-up open and start pages for push button start, since these new models are the first in the line up with the feature. We’ll find one for a video soon. We then took a look at their owner’s manuals in case there were any new tell tales to add. And that becomes the subject today.

We found no less than 12 new symbols or modifications of existing symbols in the cars and a new use for an existing symbol. That last one at least uses a pre-existing symbol as is.

Are These Necessary?

This continues to pointlessly swell the already absurd number of tell tales that drivers face on a day to day basis. And make no mistake, the industry from the manufacturer on down to retail employees expects drivers to be fully versed on these things. Here are some examples.

This is a dusk sensor failure indicator. In Alpha’s defense, it is at least a new system. But does the image of a light bulb really help here? The symbol points out that the vehicle’s automatic headlight system is inoperable despite being activated. However, these cars, as well as pretty much all others manufactured today, are fully capable of providing a clear text message such as this in the instrument panel instead. Why not?

This one is a rain sensor failure. We’ve seen this represented as a windshield with the wiper and a drop of water or as a similar symbol with the word AUTO (right). Any of these are meant to represent an automatic wiper system. But this new one could easily be mistaken for a weather forecast.

After all, there is this symbol (left), which warns of possible icy road conditions! This is, by the way, a modification of a preexisting tell tale (right) that leaves out the lane lines. Again, in both cases a message could be displayed in the instrument panel in plain language.

This one indicates a speed limiter failure. Now, lets consider that tell tales in general are meant to illustrate an automotive system in a way that can be easily understood by the general population. However, the incomplete circle with a dashed line inside is completely meaningless. This is a true warning light fail.

I won’t cover each one, but this one deserves mention because of its near complete lack of utility. It is the standard gas pump used as a low fuel warning for years, now with a line running through it. It is meant to indicate that the fuel has been shut off due to an accident. I can’t help but believe that if a driver has been in an accident severe enough for the car to shut off the fuel supply, it will be the last thing he or she will be concerned about. Plus it will only be illuminated if the key is left on!

And finally, since it was mentioned at the start, Alpha has given the image of the padlock straddling a car a new use. It will tell you that there was a failed attempt at a break in. If the break in was successful, I suppose it would be obvious. In any case, this one has some utility and at least went unmodified.

We are now approaching 300 distinct symbols or variations of symbols hosted at DashboardSymbols.com. We’ve argued much of this already but bears repeating: the entire system is all but useless. First, there are too many variations for drivers to be fully versed on period. Second, as already noted, today’s vehicles can point out a problem in plain, easily understood language. And fourth, since eyes belong on the road and not looking at symbols or text, the computing power exists for today’s cars to speak the problem and verbally even offer up additional information or solutions.

As far as we are concerned, if you can order a pizza from your car by voice, you should damn well be able to get real information about an ongoing problem. The car knows and the symbols are a futile attempt to communicate what it knows to its driver.

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Marc Favreau

Permanent link to this article: https://dashboardsymbols.com/2019/01/alfa-romeo-adds-to-auto-symbol-overload/