When you start your engine and a multitude of dashboard lights come on and, after a few seconds, go off again… except that sometimes they don’t. While most of us are concerned about some of the lights not going off, it ends there. We are always having urgent matters to handle and we opt to first attend to them using the vehicle and later take the vehicle to the garage. What we don’t realize is that in most cases, we aggravate the problem. These warning lights are serious. You or your car are at serious risk, and you should pull over and stop just as soon as it’s safe to do so and get some help from a garage near you or call your mechanic. Especially when they are flashing, you should stop your car and contact the hybrid garage near you
Check Engine
This indicates a mechanical fault with the engine, or a problem with the ECU, the electronic Engine Control Unit. When this light is flashing, you should immediately stop and contact the hybrid garage near you otherwise the engine may fail (expensive and potentially dangerous) or it may enter a limp-home mode that will get you to a place of safety but no more. When not flashing, you may take the risk of going all the way home but ensure you call your hybrid mechanic to come and diagnose the car to know the cause.
Braking system
This indicates a fault with the braking system, and the consequences hardly need spelling out. At the very least you may lose servo assistance, making the brakes extremely heavy to operate, and at worst the brakes could fail completely. If the fault causes malfunction of the ABS, it can cause skidding under braking and loss of braking ability at worst. Because you don’t know what the fault is, look for a hybrid garage near you and have the car diagnosed. If the fault is not as severe, you can proceed with your journey and have it fixed later.
Power steering failure
Practically all modern cars use power steering, and if this fails the steering will become extremely heavy, so that it’s difficult or impossible to control the car safely. You may be able to maneuver it to a hybrid garage near you at low speeds, with effort, but it will be dangerous to drive at normal speeds.
Airbag warning
This indicates a fault with the airbag system, which does not affect the way the car drives or handles but has very serious consequences – obviously – if you are involved in an accident. Airbags are an integral and essential part of the car’s safety system, and they are not just an optional extra.
Oil pressure
When this light glows amber, it indicates a low oil level, but when the lamp glows red, it indicates a serious loss of oil pressure. This could be due to insufficient oil or a more serious mechanical failure. In such a case you should stop and at the next safest point and contact the hybrid garage near you. If you keep driving, the engine is likely to fail completely, suffering serious damage in the process.
Cooling system
This lamp indicates that there’s too little engine coolant or that it’s exceeded its maximum temperature. If you carry on driving, the engine will overheat, its performance will suffer and it may stop entirely, quite possibly with serious damage.
These are some of the most critical dashboard warning lights. Different vehicles have many other different dashboard warning lights. However, the most important thing for you as a driver is to know what the warning light on your dashboard means. That way, you can determine if you can safely continue driving or not. For any clarifications on dashboard lighting, feel free to contact us.