Foot on brake light (press the brake pedal)
An instruction, not a fault: press the brake pedal. It shows on cars with an automatic gearbox or drive selector when you try to move out of P, or release the parking brake, without your foot on the brake.
GreenYellow / amber
Not defined by regulation: a maker convention
What to do
Press the brake pedal and hold it while you move the selector out of P; the light goes out. Peugeot says it lights when there is insufficient or no pressure on the brake pedal before you release the parking brake or move out of P with the engine running.
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.
How urgent is it?
- Green: Fine to drive. Volkswagen: information only.
- Yellow: Fine to drive. Peugeot: press the brake pedal before releasing the parking brake or moving out of P; no workshop visit is asked for.
- Symbol
- A foot pressing a pedal
- Also called
- Press brake pedal light; Brake pedal warning light
- Colour
- Green or Yellow / amber
- Standard
- None — a maker convention, described here from 3 makers: Volkswagen, Peugeot, Renault
Where makes differ
Volkswagen's lamp is green and applies only to cars with an automatic gearbox. Peugeot lists its Foot on the brake lamp with the orange lamps. Renault's Captur has a brake pedal warning light for its automatic gearbox with electronic lever. Do not confuse it with Volkswagen's red 'depress the brake pedal' warning on its electric models: that one means adaptive cruise control cannot slow the car enough and you must brake immediately.
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.
Neither FMVSS 101 nor UN R121 lists a press-the-brake-pedal tell-tale.
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:
- Volkswagen: Volkswagen UK — Press brake pedal (green lamp) — Information only; automatic gearbox only: the brake pedal must be pressed and held while the gear lever is moved out of park. checked 2026-09-28
- Peugeot: Peugeot handbook, 3008 and 5008 (UK English, 2024 edition, PDF) (Dashboard instruments — Foot on the brake) — Fixed: insufficient or no pressure on the brake pedal, with the engine running, before releasing the parking brake to move out of mode P. checked 2026-09-28
- Renault: Renault Captur user manual (English, edition dated 11/04/2024 to 05/09/2024) — Warning lights (Brake pedal warning light) — Lights up when the brake pedal should be depressed; listed for the automatic gearbox with electronic lever. checked 2026-09-28
- Volkswagen: Volkswagen UK — Depress the brake pedal (red, electric models) (red lamp (a different warning)) — If automatic deceleration by adaptive cruise control is not enough, the red lamp lights with a chime and a message: brake immediately. checked 2026-09-28
Written in our own words; the makers' pages cover their own models only.