Frost / icy road warning (snowflake)
The outside-air sensor reads about 4 °C (39 °F) or colder, so the road may be icy even though the air is above freezing — bridges, shaded stretches and exposed roads freeze first. It warns about the road, not about the car; nothing is wrong.
Yellow / amber
Not defined by regulation: a maker convention
What to do
Drive for ice: leave a much bigger gap and brake, accelerate and steer gently — Hyundai's manual says avoid speeding, rapid acceleration, sudden braking and sharp turns. The sensor measures air near the car, not the road surface, so ice is possible with the light out; Mazda warns the reading can be off after the car has been parked, at low speed or when the temperature changes suddenly.
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
- A snowflake
- Also called
- Snowflake light; Icy road warning light; Ice warning light; Low outside temperature warning
- Colour
- Yellow / amber
- Standard
- None — a maker convention, described here from 4 makers: Kia, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Mazda
Where makes differ
Kia's sheet draws an amber snowflake that blinks for 10 seconds and then stays lit below 4 °C, with a chime. Hyundai gives 4 °C, or 40 °F in its US manual. Volkswagen shows a white snowflake beside the temperature display below about +4 °C and keeps it until the air is above +6 °C.
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 an ice or low-temperature tell-tale.
Other yellow / amber maker lights
All yellow / amber dashboard lights, regulated ones included
Sources
No regulation defines this light, so it is described from 4 carmakers' own manuals or owner pages, each fetched and checked on the date shown:
- Kia: Kia UK — Dashboard warning and indicator icons (PDF) (Icy Road Warning Light) — Operates below 4 °C (39.2 °F): blinks for 10 seconds, then stays lit, with a warning chime; drawn as an amber snowflake. checked 2026-09-28
- Hyundai: Hyundai owner's manual, 2025 Tucson (general market) — Warning and indicator lights (Icy road warning light) — Warns that the road may be icy below 4 °C; avoid speeding, rapid acceleration, sudden braking and sharp turns. checked 2026-09-28
- Hyundai: Hyundai owner's manual, 2026 Palisade (US) — Warning and indicator lights ((33) Icy road warning light) — Lights to warn the driver the road may be icy when the outside temperature is below 40 °F (4 °C). checked 2026-09-28
- Volkswagen: Volkswagen UK — Outside temperature colder than +4 °C (+39 °F) (white snowflake) — Below about +4 °C (+39 °F) a snowflake appears in the upper part of the digital instrument cluster; it stays until the temperature rises above +6 °C (+43 °F). checked 2026-09-28
- Mazda: Mazda owner's manual, Mazda3 (Europe, 8HC2-EO-19A) — Outside Temperature Display (Outside Temperature Display) — The displayed outside temperature may differ from the real one in very cold or hot weather, after sudden changes, when parked or at low speed. checked 2026-09-28
Written in our own words; the makers' pages cover their own models only.