Vauxhall Mokka Dashboard Symbols and Warning Lights: Which Lamps Are Driver Assistance and Which Are Faults

Vauxhall Mokka dashboard symbols: the full table

The Mokka follows the colour rule every car uses — red for stop, amber for a fault that needs attention, green, blue or white for something switched on — and our guide to what dashboard warning lights mean covers that code in full. The table below is built from the Mokka’s own owner’s manual, so each verdict carries Vauxhall’s instruction for that lamp rather than a generic one.

Which rows your car shows depends on engine and equipment: preheating and the particle filter are diesel lamps, and the assistance lamps appear only where those systems are fitted. The handbook calls amber lamps yellow, and we use both words. Lamps that other Vauxhalls carry and the Mokka does not are on our Vauxhall warning lights and symbols page. A row with no icon is one where we could not match a symbol exactly, so it runs in words only.

Colour	Symbol	What it means on a Mokka	Is it safe to drive?
Red	Brake and clutch system — the ! in a circle between two brackets	On with the manual parking brake applied: normal. On with it released: the brake and clutch fluid level is too low.	No, once the brake is released. Vauxhall’s instruction is to stop and not continue the journey.
Red	Charging system — a battery with its two terminals	With the engine running, the battery is not charging. Engine cooling may be interrupted and the brake servo may stop working.	No. Stop, switch off the engine and call a workshop.
Red	Engine oil pressure — an oil can dripping from its spout	Lubrication may be interrupted, risking engine damage and locked drive wheels.	No. Clutch down, neutral, out of the traffic, ignition off — and expect heavier brakes and steering once the engine stops. Check the oil level.
Red	Airbag and belt tensioners — a seated figure facing an inflated airbag	A fault: the airbags and pretensioners may not fire in a crash. Lit continuously after a collision, it shows they have deployed.	It drives, but the protection may be missing. Vauxhall says have it put right immediately.
Red	Seat belt reminder, and door open	A front belt is unfastened, or a door or the tailgate is open. Rear belts show in the Driver Information Centre.	Fasten it or shut it before moving off.
Amber	Power steering — a steering wheel with an exclamation mark	Should go out soon after the engine starts. Still on after that, or lit while driving: a failure in the power steering system.	Steering stays possible but heavy. Drive gently, keep the journey short and have it seen promptly.
Amber	ABS — the letters ABS in a circle	The brakes still work, but without anti-lock regulation.	Carefully, if the red brake lamp is out, allowing more stopping distance. An ABS fault also fails the MOT.
Amber	Electronic Stability Control and Traction Control — a car above two skid marks	Flashing: the system is working and may cut engine output or brake the car slightly. Steady: a fault in the system.	Flashing: yes, ease off. Steady: driving on is possible, but stability may suffer on a poor surface. Have it seen.
Amber	Electronic Stability Control off — the skid car with OFF beneath it. Traction Control off has a separate lamp of its own.	The system has been switched off.	Yes, if you switched it off. Switch it back on for normal roads.
Amber	Malfunction indicator light — an engine outline	Steady: a fault in the emission control system. Flashing: a fault that could damage the catalytic converter.	Steady: gently, to a workshop straight away. Flashing: ease off the accelerator until the flashing stops, then the same.
Amber	Service vehicle soon — lit together with a message or a code number	The car needs attention, and the message says what. The codes are listed in the next section.	Usually, but read the message first: some codes mean steering, gearbox or reduced engine power.
Amber	Tyre pressure monitoring — a tyre cross-section with an exclamation mark	Steady: tyre pressure loss. Flashing for 60 to 90 seconds, then steady: a system fault, or a wheel without a sensor such as the spare.	Steady: stop immediately and check the pressures. Flashing: yes, then a workshop.
Amber	Diesel particle filter — a box with a row of dots	Steady: the filter is full and needs to clean itself. Flashing: it has reached its limit and needs cleaning at once to avoid engine damage.	Yes — keep driving until it goes out, ideally without dropping below 2,000 rpm. See how a DPF works.
Amber	Preheating — a coiled filament	Diesel preheating, which only runs when it is cold outside.	Yes. It is working as intended.
Amber	Immobiliser — flashing	A fault in the immobiliser system. The engine cannot be started.	It will not start. Try the spare key, then have the system diagnosed.
Green or amber	Lane departure warning — a car between two lane lines	Green: on and ready. Flashing yellow: an unintended lane change detected. Steady yellow: a failure in the system.	Yes. Steady yellow means it is no longer watching, so book it in.
Amber	Ultrasonic parking assist	A system fault, sensors dirty or covered by ice or snow, or interference from another source of ultrasound.	Yes, without relying on the sensors. Clean them; if it stays on, a workshop.
Amber	Adaptive forward lighting	Steady: the system needs a service. Flashing: switched to symmetrical low beam. A four-second flash at start-up is only a reminder that it is active.	Yes, but book the steady version in.
Amber	Operate pedal	Stop-start: press the clutch to restart from an Autostop. Flashing: press it for a normal start.	Yes — an instruction, not a fault.
Amber	Low fuel — a fuel pump	Steady: the tank is low. Flashing: the fuel is used up.	Flashing: refuel at once. Never run the tank dry.
Amber	Front passenger airbag — the OFF lamp shown; a separate lamp shows it is on	Whether the front passenger airbag is active or deactivated.	Match it to the passenger. An active airbag with a child restraint, or a deactivated one with an adult, risks fatal injury.
Green, blue and amber tell-tales	Turn signals, high beam, front and rear fog lights	On as selected. Turn signals flashing rapidly: a failed bulb or fuse, or a trailer lamp out.	Yes. Replace a failed indicator promptly, and switch the rear fog off when visibility returns.
Green and white	Vehicle detected ahead, descent control, cruise control, upshift and exterior lights	Information only — explained in the next section.	Yes. None of these reports a fault.

Driver assistance or a fault: reading the Mokka’s extra lamps

Most of the extra lamps on a Mokka are not warnings at all. They report what a driver-assistance or lighting system is doing, and they sit beside versions of themselves that mean something quite different. Three questions sort them: what colour is it, is it steady or flashing, and did a message arrive with it?

Lamps that only tell you what a system is doing

• Vehicle detected ahead (green): forward collision alert has picked up a vehicle in your lane. It confirms the system can see.
• Lane departure warning (green, or flashing yellow): green means switched on and ready; flashing yellow means it has recognised an unintended lane change — the system doing its job.
• Descent control (green): steady when ready, flashing when active.
• ESC and Traction Control (flashing): the system is intervening. Engine output may drop and the car may brake itself slightly, which is normal on a slippery road.
• Cruise control: white when switched on, green when it is controlling the speed.
• Adaptive forward lighting (four-second flash at start-up): a reminder that the system is active.
• Operate pedal, and bonnet open: both belong to stop-start. The clutch restarts the engine from an Autostop, and a bonnet lamp shows on cars with the system.

The same systems when they report a fault

The fault versions are mostly yellow and steady. Lane departure lit steady yellow is a failure in the system. Adaptive forward lighting lit steady needs a service. ESC and Traction Control lit steady is a fault rather than an intervention: the handbook allows driving on, but stability may be worse on a poor surface. Each of these is a workshop visit, not an emergency stop.

Parking assist lit yellow deserves a look before a booking. It can be a system fault, but it can equally be sensors that are dirty or iced over, or interference from another source of ultrasound — the display even has a “Parking assist fault, clean bumper” message for exactly this.

Tyre pressure monitoring is the one to get the right way round. Steady means a tyre is losing pressure, and Vauxhall says stop immediately and check. Flashing, then turning steady after 60 to 90 seconds, means a fault in the system or a wheel without a sensor, such as the spare, and is a job for a workshop rather than the hard shoulder.

When the display shows a number instead of words

On a Mokka with the Midlevel display, vehicle messages appear as code numbers, sometimes with a chime; the Uplevel and Uplevel-Combi displays spell them out. Write the number down before you confirm it with SET/CLR. An S in front means “Service vehicle soon”, and Vauxhall’s instruction for every S code is to seek a workshop immediately.

First-generation Mokka and Mokka X, or the 2021-on Mokka

Everything on this page comes from the handbook for the first-generation Mokka, the car later sold as the Mokka X. It has conventional dials with the Driver Information Centre between the speedometer and rev counter, in Midlevel, Uplevel or Uplevel-Combi form — which is why one owner sees a code where another reads a sentence.

The Mokka sold from 2021, including the Mokka Electric, is a different car with a digital instrument display. Its symbols and messages are not the ones in this table, and the electric version has no oil pressure, preheating or particle filter lamps at all. If yours is the later car, use its own handbook — Vauxhall publishes them on its owner’s manuals page — and our Vauxhall Astra warning lights page, which deals with how Vauxhalls changed as the brand moved into Stellantis.

Which Mokka lamps point at a failed electronic unit

Most lamps in the table come down to a fluid, a tyre, a bulb, a dirty sensor or a service interval. A smaller group sits in front of an electronic control unit, and those are worth understanding before any part is bought. The full range of units we work on is on what we repair.

The reason is the way a control unit fails. It rarely stops dead. Heat, vibration and supply-voltage swings wear it gradually, so it may work on a cool morning and drop out on a warm afternoon, and the symptom it produces looks mechanical: steering that feels tight, brakes that seem to grab, an engine that loses power as if something were blocked. A garage chasing that symptom can replace sound parts one at a time while the fault sits in the unit. The diagnostic codes, and which module stored them, are how you avoid that.

Power steering: the yellow wheel and S68

The first-generation Mokka uses electric power steering, with the assistance built into the steering column rather than supplied by a hydraulic pump. So there is nothing to top up. When its lamp stays on after start-up or lights on the move, the handbook calls it a failure in the power steering system, and a Midlevel display can add S68, Service power steering.

A failing column does not always announce itself cleanly. Steering that is heavier one way than the other, or assistance that comes and goes, can pass for a tyre or suspension problem. Because the system runs on electrical power, rule out the battery and charging first — a low battery has its own message, 174 — then have the steering codes read. If the column or its control unit is at fault, your garage removes it and sends it in: units like this are what we test, repair and calibrate, under steering and EPS repairs. For the symptoms that tend to come with the lamp, see electric power steering fault symptoms; for why a cleared lamp returns, read what clearing an EPS warning light involves.

ABS and stability control

The ABS lamp and the ESC and Traction Control lamp share a source. The ABS unit reads the wheel speeds and modulates brake pressure for all three systems, so one fault in it can light one lamp, two or all of them. A single ABS lamp is more often a wheel speed sensor or its wiring than the unit, and the codes tell the two apart.

On Vauxhalls fitted with the ATE MK60 unit, a recognised pattern is the stability lamp staying lit, the ESC off button doing nothing, and the ABS and handbrake lamps sometimes joining in — set out on our Vauxhall ESP fault and brake-pressure sensor page. Whether a given Mokka carries that unit is a question for the part label and the codes, not the symptom alone. How an ABS pump works sets out what the unit does, and whether an ABS light fails the MOT answers the question most owners ask next; our ABS pump and module repairs cover the rest. If the red brake lamp lights alongside the ABS lamp, stop and have the car recovered.

Reduced power and the throttle body

S84, Engine power is reduced, means the engine is running on limited output because of a fault the engine management has stored. One unit that can cause it is the electronic throttle body, which opens and closes on the engine management’s instruction and wears through heat, contamination and constant movement. Throttle body fault codes explains how the codes separate it from the long list of other causes. If the codes lead to a fault inside the engine ECU itself, that repair is a job for the independent specialists at ecu-repairs.com.

The instrument cluster, the body control module and lost communication

The cluster is an electronic unit too, and when it misbehaves every lamp on it becomes less trustworthy. Needles that drop or stick, a Driver Information Centre that blanks or flickers, or lamps with no stored fault behind them point at the cluster; that work is under instrument cluster repairs, and repairing the fitted unit keeps its recorded mileage.

Lighting faults point elsewhere. The Mokka reports a failed indicator by corner, and a failed brake light by message. If those appear with every bulb working, the unit switching the lamps — the body control module — is worth considering. And when unrelated lamps light together and a diagnostic tool reports modules that will not answer, read our guide to lost communication fault codes before replacing anything: the fault can sit in one unit, its supply, or the network between them.

What to do when a warning light comes on in your Mokka

1. Colour first. Red: stop somewhere safe. Yellow: something is wrong and wants a workshop soon.
2. Then steady or flashing. The same Mokka lamp can mean a system at work or a system that has failed — and for tyre pressure, steady is the urgent state.
3. Record the message or code. Note the text or number in the Driver Information Centre before you confirm it.
4. Make the owner’s checks. Parking brake, oil level, tyre pressures, doors and bonnet, a dirty parking sensor, and the battery if the low-battery message has shown.
5. Get the diagnostic codes read. Leave brake, steering and airbag faults stored until a garage has seen them; clearing them removes the evidence and mends nothing.

The general version is on our parent guide above, and our Vauxhall Corsa warning lights and Vauxhall Meriva warning lights pages cover other Vauxhalls you may have on the drive.

Vauxhall Mokka warning lights FAQs