Warning lights in a car

Recently, my friend was going on a long journey in his car. While driving, a warning light suddenly flashed in the dashboard. He did not know what it was nor he had the manual with him. So here, I write this covering all the warning lights (Petrol car), so that you can take the correct decision when it happens to you.

1. Brake System Warning Light: Normally this light comes on when the parking brake is engaged. But if this light stays even after the parking brake is released fully, then the fluid level in the brake fluid reservoir is inadequate. If the light comes on while driving, there may be some problem with your braking system.                                        

2. Air Bag Warning Light: If this light comes on while driving, then there is some problem with your air bag system or the seat belt pretension-er system.               
3. Seat Belt Warning Light: If this light comes on, then you are risking your life driving the car without fastening the simple yet very important safety feature-Seat belt.
4. ABS Warning light: If this light comes on and goes off within few seconds while driving, then the system is normal. But if it stays for a long time, then there may be some problem with the car’s ABS braking system.                                          
5. Malfunction Indicator Light: Today’s modern cars are equipped with computer controlled emission system. If this light comes on, there is some problem in the emission control system and you will have get it serviced with a authorised dealer.                
6. Electric Power Steering Light:  If this light comes on while driving, there is some problem with your electric power steering. In many instances, you will find it hard to steer though you can steer.                                                                                    

• Oil Pressure light:If this light comes on, then either there may be insufficient oil in the oil tank or sometimes there may be problems with the engine lubrication system.   
• Battery charging light: If this light comes there is some problem with your battery and battery charging system.                                                                    
• High Engine Coolant Temperature Warning Light: This light comes on in two ways while driving: .i. Blinks: It means that continuing to drive with this blinking light will overheat the engine. .ii. stays without blinking: If this light stays without blinking then the engine is overheated.                                                                                      
• Engine Immobilizer System: If this light comes on stays even after you have started your engine, it means that there is some problem with the engine immobilizer (Device which prevents your car from being stolen using duplicate keys) system.              

Warning lights in the diesel cars are also welcome.

Nice Writeup Praduymna!!! Thanks for sharing the info for others benefit.

great post ... perhaps all the cars starting from upper level hatchbacks and mid sized sedans have these indicators in place.

requesting others also to contribute ...

Thank you  SolitaireKing and ashishjoshi. This post can become even informative  by posting the warning lights of diesel car ( as diesel cars have lot of warning lights) and may be some warning lights which come only in high-end cars.

Strangely, my car (santro - 2001 model) does not seem to have a check engine (or malfunction indicator lamp). I have double/triple checked the instrument cluster - it isn't there. It has the following lights: parking brake, oil pressure, low fuel, battery, turn/hazard, high-beam...but nothing that resembles the MIL.

Hi Rohit - I guess all MPFI cars are having this facilities in built. Yours is car / mpfi?

Hi rohit, your car would be a carberated car. Only mpi car has cel facility. cel is used when one of the sensors fail or signal parts failure. Or the bulb is fused.