Nissan Altima Dashboard Light Guide

Montgomeryville Nissan is proud to provide everything that Doylestown, Lansdale, and Montgomeryville area drivers need to operate and care for their vehicles. Here’s our Nissan Altima dashboard light guide’s colorful array of indicator lights.

Warning Lights

The amber and red dashboard lights are warning lights. These light up briefly when you start your engine, but if they appear while the engine is running, they indicate potential problems with the vehicle’s primary systems.

Problems with these systems are serious, and it’s often a good idea to have your Nissan Altima towed if the nearest service location isn’t extremely close.

• ABS: The letters ABS in large, bold capitals refer to the anti-lock braking system. This light will flash when you start your engine to confirm that the system is running. If this light appears at any other time, you should have your anti-lock braking system checked.
• BRAKE: There are two brake warning lights: an exclamation point in a ring and the word BRAKE in capitals. These come on to show that the parking brake is activated, but if you see them when you’re not using the parking brake, you should check your brake fluid level immediately and have your brakes inspected as soon as possible.
• PS: The letters PS refer to the vehicle’s power steering. If it’s on while you’re driving, you should have your power steering checked as soon as possible.
• Charge: A rectangle with + and – signs inside it refers to the battery charge system. Shut off your engine and check your generator belt to see whether it’s damaged or loose and have your charge system checked.
• Tire Pressure: An exclamation point inside an underlined set of parentheses ( ! ) refers to low tire pressure. This isn’t a replacement for regularly checking your tires; it indicates that you’re driving with one or more of your tires at low pressure. Stop the car, check all four tires, and reflate as necessary.
• The tire pressure light will shut off once you have adjusted the pressure and driven at 16 mph, which is when the pressure monitor system engages. If the tire pressure light flashes for a full minute after starting your car, you should have your tire pressure monitor system inspected.
• Master Light: This is an exclamation point inside a triangle and appears together with certain other warning lights, including the tire pressure, low fuel, low washer fluid, loose fuel cap, no key, parking brake release, and door or trunk open warnings.
• Seat Belt: A figure with a seat belt indicates that the driver or front passenger hasn’t fastened the seat belt. This warning is accompanied by a chime.
• Airbag: A sideways, belted figure facing a circle refers to the airbag systems. If it fails to light up when you start the engine or if it flashes or remains on, you should have your air bags checked as soon as possible. This may indicate that your front, side, or curtain airbags or pretensioner system won’t function in an accident, so if the service location is not close, drive carefully or consider having your car towed.

Other Indicator Lights on your Nissan Altima

Headlights: Two half-circles facing opposite directions with three lines on each side, illuminated in green indicates that your headlights and side lights are on.

• High Beams: A blue oval with the left side flattened and several lines to the left of it indicates that your high beams are on.
• Fog Lights: A half-oval with three lines crossed by a wavy line on the left indicates that your front fog lights are on.
• Turn Signals: Left- and right-facing arrows indicate that your turn signals are on. If both arrows are flashing, your hazard lights are on.
• Passenger Airbag: Similar to the regular airbag light, with the number 2 to the right, an X over the circle, and the word OFF above, this indicates that the passenger airbag isn’t engaged because no weight is sensed in the passenger seat.
• Malfunction: A steady or blinking polygon that looks like a rectangle with several irregular corners and sides indicates that the fuel cap is loose, that the fuel is low, or that a minor malfunction has been detected, such as an engine misfire. You should have your car inspected, but you don’t need to have it towed.

If the engine isn’t on and this light is steady for 20 seconds and then blinks for 10 seconds, you should have your emission control system checked.

• O/D: O/D OFF in capital letters indicates that the overdrive system is off.
• Security: A key inside the outline of a car indicates that the security system is operating.
• Slip: A silhouette of a car from the back above two wavy tire tracks indicates that the Traction Control or Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC) system is engaged, and the car is approaching its traction limits. Drive carefully because the road is slippery.
• VDC: The same slip light described above plus OFF below it indicates that you have turned off your VDC system. If you’ve turned the VDC system on and this light stays on, have the system checked.

Repairs and Maintenance Checks

If you need to have any part of your Nissan Altima checked or serviced or if you have any questions about the Nissan Altima dashboard light guide, call us at Montgomeryville Nissan, serving Doylestown and Lansdale, for advice or to schedule an appointment today.