Auto Hold light
Auto Hold keeps the brakes on after you have stopped, so you can take your foot off the brake pedal in queues and at lights. White or grey: Auto Hold is switched on and ready. Green: the car has stopped and is being held. Amber/yellow: Auto Hold has a fault and is not working.
GreenYellow / amber
Not defined by regulation: a maker convention
What to do
White, grey and green need nothing. Amber/yellow: hold the car with the brake pedal or the parking brake yourself, and have the system checked by a dealer.
Makes differ: what this light means on your car, the other colours it may use for the symbol and what the car wants you to do are set by the manufacturer, so your car's owner's manual is the authority.
- Symbol
- The words AUTO HOLD
- Colour
- Green or Yellow / amber
- Standard
- None — a maker convention, described here from 3 makers: Kia, Hyundai, Volkswagen
Where makes differ
Kia and Hyundai both use white (on), green (holding) and amber or yellow (fault). Volkswagen's lamp is grey when Auto Hold is switched on, and it stays switched on when the drive system is started again. White and grey are not among the four colours this chart sorts by, so the light is filed under green and yellow.
Not defined by regulation: a maker convention
Neither US FMVSS 101 (Tables 1 and 2) nor UN Regulation No. 121 lists this light, so no rule fixes its symbol or its colour. What follows is what the makers cited below say; other makes, and other model years of the same make, may draw it differently.
The parking brake telltale is regulated (FMVSS 101 Table 1, UN R121 item 28); Auto Hold has no tell-tale in either table.
Related lights a regulation does define
Other green maker lights
Other yellow / amber maker lights
All yellow / amber dashboard lights, regulated ones included
Sources
No regulation defines this light, so it is described from 3 carmakers' own manuals or owner pages, each fetched and checked on the date shown:
- Kia: Kia UK — Dashboard warning and indicator icons (PDF) (Auto Hold Indicator) — White when the system is turned on, green when Auto Hold is active, amber when the system is not operating correctly — contact a Kia dealer. checked 2026-09-24
- Hyundai: Hyundai owner's manual, 2026 Palisade (US) — Warning and indicator lights ((13) AUTO HOLD indicator light) — White: Auto Hold activated; green: the vehicle is stopped with the brake pedal and held; yellow: a malfunction is detected. checked 2026-09-24
- Volkswagen: Volkswagen UK — Auto Hold function switched on (indicator lamp) — When Auto Hold is switched on the lamp lights up grey; it is ready for use but the car is not necessarily stopped. checked 2026-09-24
Written in our own words; the makers' pages cover their own models only.