You’re driving down the road on a sunny day. Everything seems to be running fine and you’re just enjoying a cruise. After all, gas prices aren’t that bad this year, and though it’s been hot, it’s nice to leave the house without a heavy jacket, right? Then in the corner of your vision you see a light illuminate in your gauge cluster for seemingly no reason, and that naturally causes a panic. If you aren’t familiar with the symbol, you might be wondering if you should pull over. Well, we’re here to provide you with a Kia Dashboard Warning Light Guide to help you quickly diagnose the issue and figure out what level of emergency you’re looking at and what might need to be fixed.
Your most common lights are all listed below, and some should look familiar to you. Which lights are a real warning and which are just reminders? There are a few you should be familiar with, such as the cruise control indicator, which simply illuminates to remind you that it is active (and you should press the brakes or deactivate it when coming up on other vehicles) while other lights will warn you when a system is going wrong.
A good rule of thumb is that green lights are reminders that a system is active, yellow lights are a warning (think when your ABS is triggered, it might light up yellow to indicate it was activated, and to watch your driving because conditions are likely slippery), but a red light likely means you are low on an important fluid or that your engine is overheating. If a red light is flashing, you almost always want to pull over.
More from our blog: 2016 Kia J.D. Power Awards and Rankings
We hope you find this quick guide helpful, but there are more details in your owner’s manual. You can also contact us here at our Service Center if you need further diagnosis. We’ll be covering other important maintenance tips here at the Garden Grove Kia Blog, so make sure you stay tuned.
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View Comments
My airbag warning light came on today is this something dangerous
2014 Kia forte airbag warning came on is it ok to drive im worried
HEV light came on while driving 2016 Kia Optima hybrid is this Normal ?
An orange light came on with the letter B what does this signify
An orange light on a 2017 Optima came on with the letter B what does this signify
a light with a picture of a wrench that says, Interv. manten. Desac
There is a red light that always flashes on the tachometer when the engine is switched off. While I was driving this evening for some unknown reason it started flashing as it normally does when the engine is off and intermittently did a cycle of very quick flashes and then back to the normal flashes then a cycle of quick flashes again and then back to the regular flashes consistently till I got home. Is this a serious problem?
I have a warning lite on in my new 2018 kia sorento. and it is none of the above. what next.
have a warning light that came on, not on the regular list above, light looks like a snow flake and a V or road
The snowflakemeans possible ice on the road, just detects cold weather.
You forgot to mention the icee road light both here and Manuel
I have a warning light that came on this morning it is a triangle with exclaimation mark in middle of it and don't know what that means its not in owners manuel
Same here. (Kia sorento 2013)
What is that?