Lights on indicator (parking lights)

How to read it

The symbol is two small lamps back to back, each giving out three lines of light in a fan; Canada’s Motor Vehicle Safety Regulations give it for the tail, parking, license plate and side marker lamps. UN Regulation No. 121 sets the tell-tale for position and parking lamps as green. Makers name it differently. Hyundai’s Light ON indicator lights when the parking lamps or headlights are on, Honda’s Lights On indicator when the parking, tail and other external lights are on, and Nissan’s exterior light indicator when the front parking, side marker, tail and license plate lights are on. Ford’s F-150 manual calls it Parking Lamps.

Also searched as: exterior light indicator, green headlight symbol, headlights on indicator, parking light indicator, position light indicator, side light indicator, tail light indicator.

Why it stays off in daytime

Chevrolet’s 2022 Bolt EUV manual says its Lamps On Reminder comes on when the exterior lamps are in use, except when only the daytime running lamps are on. With only the daytime running lights lit, the tail lamps and side marker lamps are off too.

Differences by country or standard

Toyota’s 2024 RAV4 manual shows two symbols for the same light: a Headlight indicator for the U.S.A. and a Tail light indicator for Canada. The Canadian one is the two lamps back to back. The American one is a round lamp with rays around it, the shape Canada’s regulations give the master lighting switch: a circle topped by a small rectangle, with seven lines radiating from it. UN Regulation No. 121 doesn’t require this tell-tale at all if the instrument panel lights come on automatically with the master lighting switch.

Look-alikes

The exterior light fault warning is also a bulb with rays, with an exclamation mark inside it, and Volkswagen shows it amber. The low beam indicator is a single headlamp with its lines of light slanting downwards.