Driver Monitor
These are all Driver Monitoring System Dashboard Indicator symbols. They appear as an eye in a box broken by lines passing through the sides of the box or a slightly closed eye alone. The first indicates that the system is on and working and is seen in green. The second indicates that the system is turned off and is seen in yellow/amber along with the word OFF. There are two additional symbols shown below.
- Before continuing, are you sure this is your symbol?? If yes, then read on below.
- Otherwise, you can return to our main Picture Symbols page and scan again!
As vehicles inch closer to self driving, driver focus becomes a greater and greater concern. The technology here uses a near-infrared camera to focus on the driver’s eyes and head positions to determine whether or not the driver is paying attention to the road or is getting drowsy. The system provides audible signals, escalating visual alerts, and reminders in the event of distraction or drowsiness. Note that a Coffee Cup symbol may be shown as well. Click the link for more.
Inop Symbols
The first of the two additional indicators, both seen in yellow/amber, has a line drawn diagonally through it. It indicates that the system has stopped temporarily because it has overheated or it cannot see the driver face and expressions properly.
The yellow/amber version of the symbol without the diagonal line or the word OFF indicates a malfunction in the system. Have your dealer or qualified repair shop determine and repair the cause of the malfunction.
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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Technology is always changing and what is current and accurate today may be literally out-of-date and inaccurate tomorrow.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.
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
Alfa Romeo Symbols
Opel Symbols
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.
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.
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