The vast majority of drivers have no idea what the dashboard lights mean a new survey has shown.
98 per cent of people fail to identify common symbols for anything from routine maintenance alerts right up to critical warnings about engine failure.
A further 70 per cent failed to identify the tyre pressure warning and 48 per cent did not recognise the brake warning light.
The study of 2,000 drivers by the British breakdown firm Britannia Rescue looked at 99 lights in 15 of the most popular car makes.
Part of the problem they found is that only 12 of the symbols are common to all models - the majority vary widely.
One in four drivers say they had symbols light up in the past year. Most carried on driving for an average of 12 days before going to a garage, 6 % per cent kept driving for a month.
