Nissan Qashqai Dashboard Warning Lights: What Each Lamp Means on the 2013–2021 and 2021-on Cars, and When the Dash Itself Is at Fault

How does Nissan grade the Qashqai’s warning lights?

By what it tells you to do. The Qashqai owner’s manual gives every lamp a meaning and an instruction, and the instruction is the true measure of urgency. Colour turns up in a few lamp names — the brake warning light is red, the malfunction warning light orange, the reserve fuel light yellow, the Stop/Start indicator green — and this page does not guess at the rest.

We are not connected with Nissan. The meanings and instructions below come from the Qashqai owner’s manuals for the second-generation car built 2013–2021 and for the car built from 2021, and anything that is our own view starts “Our advice:”. A first-generation Qashqai (2007 to 2013–14) may differ, and many lamps are marked “where fitted”, so check the handbook for your own car if a symbol is not covered here. Where the manual says a Nissan dealer or qualified workshop, the tables say “a dealer or workshop”.

Which Qashqai warning lights mean stop?

Five lamps carry Nissan’s firmest wording. Oil pressure and charge come with an instruction to switch the engine off, and the orange engine lamp belongs in this group when its message says power has been reduced.

Lamp, as Nissan names it	What it is telling you	What to do: the manual first, then “Our advice:”
Brake warning light (red)	Lights briefly at switch-on. Lit with the ignition on and the parking brake released, it warns of a low brake fluid level. If the fluid is at the correct level and the lamp stays on, the brake system may not be working properly.	Stop the vehicle and check the brake fluid level; if it is low, top up and have the system checked. Below the MIN mark, do not drive until the brakes have been checked. Nissan warns that driving could be dangerous: only if you judge it safe, drive carefully to the nearest service station, otherwise have the car towed. Our advice: with the parking brake off and this lamp lit, arrange recovery.
Engine oil pressure warning light	Lit or blinking with the engine running: the engine oil pressure may be low. Nissan says running the engine like this could cause serious damage. It is not a low oil level warning.	Stop the vehicle safely as soon as possible, stop the engine immediately and call a dealer or workshop. Check the oil level with the dipstick, never by this lamp.
Charge warning light	Lit with the engine running: the charging system may not be working properly.	Stop safely as soon as possible, switch off and look at the alternator belt. If it is loose, broken or missing, do not continue driving. If the belt looks right and the lamp stays on, have the charging system checked promptly. Our advice: the car is now drawing on the battery, so the distance you can cover is limited.
Malfunction warning light (orange), steady, with “Engine malfunction Power reduced Service now” (2021 on)	An engine malfunction has been detected.	Stop the engine and have the vehicle inspected by a dealer or workshop. Nissan says it needs to be towed there.
Low tyre pressure warning light (where fitted)	Steady while driving: a tyre is under-inflated, and a low tyre pressure message appears in the display.	Avoid sudden steering or abrupt braking, slow down, pull off to a safe place and stop as soon as possible. Set all four tyres to the cold pressure on the placard on the driver’s side centre pillar. If the lamp stays on while driving after that, a tyre may be flat. Our advice: of everything in this table, this is usually the quickest to put right.

Which Qashqai lamps mean “have it checked”?

These lamps report a fault in a system rather than an immediate danger, and Nissan’s instruction is to have it looked at by a dealer or workshop. Several belong to systems we repair. The manual describes some as still drivable, which is not the same as saying they can wait.

Lamp, as Nissan names it	What it is telling you	What to do: the manual first, then “Our advice:”
Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) warning light	Lights at switch-on and goes out. Lit with the engine running: the ABS may not be working properly. The anti-lock function switches off and the brakes work normally without it. On the 2013–2021 car, this lamp lit together with the red brake lamp, with the parking brake released and the fluid level correct, may also mean the ABS is not working properly.	Have the system checked by a dealer or workshop. Our advice: allow much more room to stop, above all on a wet road.
Electric Power Steering warning light	Lights at switch-on and goes out once the engine starts. Lit with the engine running: there is no power assist. You keep control, but the steering is harder to turn — the 2013–2021 manual says especially in sharp turns and at low speed.	Have the Electric Power Steering system checked by a dealer or workshop. Our advice: car parks and junctions are where the extra effort shows, so give yourself time.
Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) air bag warning light	Should go out about 7 seconds after switch-on. Staying on, flashing intermittently or not lighting at all means the air bag and pre-tensioner systems need servicing and may not work in an accident.	The car must go to a dealer or workshop, and Nissan says as soon as possible.
Malfunction warning light (orange), steady, with “Engine malfunction Service Now” (2021 on); Malfunction Indicator Light (2013–2021)	2021 on: a malfunction that may damage the engine control system. 2013–2021: steady points to an emission control or CVT malfunction, and a loose or missing fuel-filler cap can light it; blinking means a misfire has been detected.	2021 on (“Service Now”): have the car inspected; Nissan says it does not need towing. Until then, keep below 43 mph (70 km/h), avoid hard acceleration or deceleration and steep uphill grades, and reduce any load; Nissan warns that driving on without a check can mean poor driveability, higher fuel use and damage to the engine control system. 2013–2021: steady, check the fuel-filler cap and have the car inspected if the lamp stays on; blinking, keep below 45 mph (72 km/h), avoid hard acceleration or deceleration and steep uphill grades, and reduce any load being carried or towed.
SLIP indicator light (2021 on); Vehicle Dynamic Control (VDC) warning light (2013–2021)	Lit, not blinking, with the stability system switched on: its fail-safe mode is operating and it may not be working properly. The stability function is cancelled, but the car is still drivable.	Have the system checked by a dealer or workshop.
Electric shift control system warning light (2021 on)	A malfunction in the electric shift control system, with a chime and a message in the vehicle information display.	Have the system checked by a dealer or workshop.
Stop/Start System indicator light, blinking slowly (where fitted)	Blinking about once a second: the Stop/Start System has a malfunction.	Have it checked and, if necessary, repaired by a dealer or workshop.
Low tyre pressure warning light, flashing then steady	Flashing for about a minute at switch-on, then staying lit: the tyre pressure monitoring system is not working properly. It also does this when a spare tyre is fitted or a wheel has been changed.	Have the system checked by a dealer or workshop.
Master warning light	Lights alongside a message in the vehicle information display — a door or the boot open, low tyre pressure, a system fault, no key detected, or a driving-aid warning.	Read the message and follow its instruction. Our advice: the message is the warning; this lamp is there to make sure you look at it.

What are the Qashqai’s indicator and information lamps telling you?

None of these reports a fault. Most confirm something you switched on: dipped beam (which also lights when the headlamp switch is on AUTO and it is dark), side lights, high beam, high beam assist or adaptive driving beam, the front and rear fog lights, and the turn signal and hazard lights.

Others describe what the car is doing. ESP OFF means the Electronic Stability Programme has been switched off in the vehicle information display, and on the 2021-on car that also makes Intelligent Emergency Braking unavailable, which Nissan says is not a malfunction. A blinking SLIP lamp means ESP is working on a slippery surface; it keeps blinking for a few seconds after. The Hill Start Assist lamp lights when you stop on a hill with its conditions met and blinks as you release the brake pedal. The green Stop/Start lamp shows the system has stopped the engine, and the yellow reserve fuel lamp means the tank is into its reserve: refuel at the nearest filling station.

On the 2013–2021 car, the VDC off lamp shows stability and traction control are switched off, the AWD LOCK lamp (where fitted) shows LOCK mode — which Nissan says not to use on dry, hard roads — and the security lamp blinking with the ignition off shows the security system is working. Both generations remind you to fasten seat belts. The 2021-on car’s door lock lamp on the roof console lights when all doors are locked with the ignition on, and the passenger air bag status lights there show whether that air bag is ON or OFF. Our advice: check that status against who is sitting in the seat.

The 2021-on Qashqai adds driver-assistance lamps where fitted: Intelligent Emergency Braking, vehicle detected ahead, Blind Spot Warning, Lane Departure Warning and Emergency Lane Assist, Rear Automatic Braking, ProPILOT Assist (blue or white) and Hands OFF. Each reports the status of its own system — Hands OFF, for example, lights when Steering Assist detects your hands have left the wheel — and the IEB lamp lit with the system switched on may mean it is unavailable. The 2013–2021 car has an Automatic Emergency Braking lamp in the same role.

2013–2021 or 2021 on: what differs on the Qashqai dashboard?

The core lamps match. Brake, ABS, charge, power steering, air bag, tyre pressure, the engine malfunction lamp, seat belts and the master warning light carry the same meaning in both manuals. The differences are in naming, in what gets its own lamp rather than a display message, and in how much Nissan tells you.

When is the Qashqai dashboard itself the fault?

Sometimes the lamps are fine and the panel showing them is not. On the 2013–2021 Qashqai the instrument cluster holds the speedometer, rev counter, central information screen and every warning lamp, and it lights those lamps on data sent from the car’s other control units. When the cluster’s own electronics begin to fail, the signs are ones no single lamp explains:

• the central information screen whiting out, blanking or locking up
• speedometer or rev-counter needles sticking, or dropping to zero
• warning lamps flickering, or lit with nothing behind them
• a cluster that takes its time to come alive, or stays dark with the ignition on
• backlighting that dims or gives out

The cluster ages the way any control unit does, worked on by heat and vibration for the life of the car. Because its whole job is to display other units’ messages, a degrading cluster can show lamps no module asked for, miss ones that were sent, or let a gauge drop. A dashboard full of lamps, in other words, does not prove several systems have failed at once.

It can run the other way too. Strange behaviour such as doors reading as open, stability lamps coming on or headlamps switching themselves on frequently starts in another module or in the wiring, with the cluster faithfully reporting it. Nissan’s switch-on check is a useful first look — the lamps should light with the ignition on and then go out — and a garage’s diagnosis decides the rest before anything is removed.

If it points to the cluster, or the screen itself is failing, our Nissan Qashqai Mk2 instrument cluster repair covers the 2013–2021 car. Your garage takes the cluster out and posts it to us; the cluster that comes back is the one that went out, mileage and security data untouched, and it normally goes back in without a trip to the dealer for coding. Where a car does want coding at refit, that is treated as part of the repair. For other models, see our instrument cluster repairs.

Is the warning light the fault, or the unit reporting it?

Every warning lamp is a control unit reporting on its own system, and the unit doing the reporting can be the part that has failed. As its electronics degrade, a unit can log faults against sensors that test fine, stop talking to the rest of the car, or shut its system down. Sensors and wiring are checked first; a fault that returns once they pass is the one that points at the unit.

• The ABS lamp, with SLIP, VDC or traction lamps. On the Qashqai, anti-lock braking and stability control run through one ABS/ESP module, so a single failing unit can light several lamps. Our Qashqai ABS/ESP module repair page covers the Bosch 8.0 unit fitted from 2007 and the signs that go with it: the ABS light, the traction or ESP light, wheel-speed and brake-pressure sensor faults, and a no-communication fault. For why the lamps pair up, see ABS and traction lights showing at the same time, and for the stability side, what ESP does on a car. Other Nissan modules sit under our Nissan ABS repairs.
• The Electric Power Steering lamp. Nissan’s own description explains why this one gets misread: steering is still there but heavy, which is exactly why a tired assistance unit gets mistaken for a worn rack or column. Our guide to the electric power steering warning light explains how the system flags a fault; a steering unit that proves faulty is covered by our steering repairs.
• The SRS air bag lamp. Air bags, pre-tensioners, crash sensors, wiring or the control unit can all light it, so a garage’s diagnosis comes first. If the control unit is the cause, it is one of our airbag ECU repairs.
• The security lamp staying on, or a Qashqai that will not start. On the 2013–2021 car, the security lamp lit with the ignition on means the security system has a malfunction. Our guide to immobiliser and no-start faults covers the signs, and where the immobiliser unit is at fault, it can be posted to us.
• Flickering lamps, a white screen or dead gauges. That is the cluster case above.

The orange engine lamp is a job for your garage’s diagnosis, because its cause can sit anywhere in the engine, fuel or emissions system. The driver-assistance lamps follow Nissan’s own instruction for each system.

Only the faulty unit makes the journey: your garage removes it, posts it, and the Qashqai waits with them. We fault-find it on a Hardware-in-the-Loop rig that puts it through the heat, vibration and electrical load of the car it came from, repair it at circuit level in an ESD-safe, cleanroom-standard workshop, and run it on the same rig again before it is packed. Where the unit needs programming or calibration, that is done with dealer-level tools before it leaves us, so it goes back in as the part your car expects.

Nissan Qashqai dashboard lights: five questions owners ask