Passenger airbag off light
The front passenger airbag is switched off. UN R121 makes this tell-tale yellow and requires it to be visible to the driver and the front passenger in all driving conditions (para 5.1.4); FMVSS 101 says a “passenger air bag off” telltale must not be cancelable while the airbag is off (S5.5.6(b)).
Yellow / amber
What to do
Check that this is what you want. The usual reason to switch the passenger airbag off is a rear-facing child seat in the front passenger seat; with an adult in that seat, switch it back on as the manual describes.
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
- Crossed-out airbag beside a seated person
- Colour
- Yellow / amber
What the colour means
Yellow / amber — “caution”
The same colour code (Directive 2009/80/EC, Annex I, 2.1.4) gives “amber: caution”. FMVSS 101 and UN R121 write the colour as “yellow”; it is the colour both tables give to malfunction telltales such as ABS, stability control and low tyre pressure.
Where the regulations list it
| Rule | Row | Colour it sets |
|---|---|---|
| UN R121 | Table, item 24 “Passenger air bag off” — tell-tale | yellow |
| FMVSS 101 | S5.5.2 and S5.5.6(b) — “passenger air bag off” telltale | no colour required |
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. FMVSS 101: Passenger cars, multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks and buses sold in the US (S3). Table 1 gives the symbol or words and, where one is required, the colour of each telltale; Table 2 lists identifiers with no colour requirement.
Other yellow / amber 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
- eCFR — 49 CFR 571.101, Standard No. 101; Controls and displays (current text) — 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.