Dipped beam (low beam) indicator
The dipped (low-beam, passing-beam) headlamps are on. UN R121 makes this tell-tale green; FMVSS 101 does not require one.
Green
What to do
Nothing is wrong. Compare the high beam: the same lamp shape with straight, level beams, in blue.
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
- Headlamp with beams slanting down
- Colour
- Green
What the colour means
Green — “safety”
The colour code gives “green: safety” (Directive 2009/80/EC, Annex I, 2.1.4). In both tables green marks lamps that are simply switched on — turn signals, dipped beam, position lamps — and FMVSS 101 also allows it for the high-beam telltale.
Where the regulations list it
| Rule | Row | Colour it sets |
|---|---|---|
| UN R121 | Table, item 2 “Headlamp passing beams” — tell-tale | green |
UN R121: Cars (category M) and light goods vehicles (N1) type-approved under the UN 1958 Agreement, which includes the EU, UK and Japan (para 1). Its table gives the symbol and colour of each tell-tale; note 2 says the symbols are substantially identical to those of ISO 2575:2004.
Other green lights
Sources
- EUR-Lex — UN Regulation No. 121 (01 series), Official Journal of the EU L 5, 8 January 2016: table 'Symbols, their illumination and colours' — checked 2026-09-23
- Directive 2009/80/EC, Annex I, point 2.1.4 — the tell-tale colour meanings as written into EU law (for two- and three-wheel vehicles) — checked 2026-09-23
Meanings are written in our own words from these public texts, not quoted from ISO 2575, and were checked on the date shown.