The electronics system in today's cars relies on sensors attached to warning lights and symbols on the dashboard. There are two main types of dashboard warning lights available red and orange. A red warning light usually indicates a severe problem with your car. If your dashboard warning light is red, you should act quickly.

An orange or yellow dashboard warning light means the Engine Management system - the computer running the engine - has detected a malfunction. You can continue to drive a car with an orange dashboard warning light, but you should visit your local service center as soon as possible for diagnosis and repair.

A Green or Blue dashboard light lets you know the system is on and operating.

FOG LIGHTS
The fog light symbol looks a lot like the one used for the regular headlights, albeit with a squiggly line in front of it instead of three lines that look like beams. Not all cars come equipped with fog lights, though, so it's possible you'll never see this dashboard light during the course of vehicle ownership.

LOW TIRE PRESSURE
Modern cars come with tire pressure monitoring systems and the little exclamation point inside of a half-circle merely means one or more of your tires have low pressure. If you see this sign don't freak out. Instead, find a safe place to stop and inspect your tires. If they look a bit low, carefully make your way to the nearest gas station to fill them with air. On most cars, this light will go away on its own after you've topped the tires off.

ENGINE OIL WARNING LIGHT
Cars have been able to monitor their engine's oil pressure for years now. If you've seen what looks like a gravy boat light pop up in your dash it means there's a problem with your engine oil pressure. Without sufficient oil pressure, the engine can't properly lubricate itself. That can lead to major mechanical problems—the engine could seize and leave you stranded. As a result, it's best if you get this checked out right away.

CHECK ENGINE LIGHT
The check engine light means that one of the many sensors monitoring your car has noticed a problem with the engine. It can be anything from a spark plug fault to the failure of something major such as the intake manifold or low compression. Unless you're really handy, you should leave a fix like this to a mechanic you trust. Either way, if you see the check engine light on your dash, something's gone wrong and you shouldn't put off a trip to the shop. The sooner you can fix it, the better.

COOLANT LEVEL WARNING LIGHT
If you see a little thermometer pop up in your dash, that means your car is probably overheating. There are a number of things that could have happened, but the best thing to do is stop the car and wait a good long while for the engine to cool down by itself. Next, grab a rag, pop the hood, and use the rag to lift the lid of the coolant reservoir and check the coolant level. If your car is so hot the engine, coolant reservoir, or coolant tank is "smoking," then you might want to call a tow service.

BRAKE SYSTEM WARNING LIGHT
In the event that you see an exclamation mark with a circle around it in your dash, that means something is wrong with your brakes. There may be a problem with brake components or the hydraulic fluid may need a top-off. Stop the car and call a tow truck as soon as you safely can. Driving without a fully functioning brake system is dangerous (not to mention totally nuts) and should be fixed as soon as possible.

ABS SENSOR WARNING LIGHT
Although it is related to the braking system, the ABS warning light does not signal a failure of the physical brakes. Instead, this signals an issue with the anti-lock brake system. It's likely that if you stop too hard with this light on, then your car's brakes may lock up, which could make it a struggle to come to a full stop. It's best to take your car to a shop in this case, as ABS is one of the most important safety enhancements in cars since the seatbelt was invented .

AIRBAG WARNING LIGHT
All cars have airbags these days. It's federally mandated (as it should be), and sometimes you'll see an airbag warning light in your dash. This light can mean a number of things. It can indicate a problem with any number of items, including the sensors that detect crashes and deploy airbags in the event of an accident have failed. If this light pops up on your dash consistently, then it's time to take your car to a shop for a lookover.

BATTERY LIGHT
If you see a little red battery on your dash, then that means you're currently powering your car on the battery alone. When the engine isn't on, the alternator isn't actively charging the battery. That means eventually you'll drain the battery and you'll likely need a jumpstart to get you going again. If this light is on while your car's engine is on, then it's typically a sign that the battery charging system isn't working. In that case, you're going to have to take your car somewhere to get the problem diagnosed.

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