White Speedometer Light on Dash in Nissan Altima - What's This?

When it comes to dash warning lights, any modern car can puzzle you with a variety of options. Sometimes, the lights are easy to understand because they just show the pictogram of something that is broken or needs your attention. But at times, it's really hard to get the actual reason why a certain light is on the dash.

White speedometer light highlights

• Common reasons:cruise control active, dashboard brightness control
• How to fix:no need to fix
• Possible consequences:no consequences
• Priority level:Low
• Can you drive?Yes
• DIY repair:No repair needed
• Repair price range:$0

The white speedometer light in the Nissan Altima - what's this?

So, as I've already said before, there are two possible options of lights on the dash of your Nissan Altima that can actually mean different things but can still be referred to as the white speedometer light. They are both very small and unnoticeable but they can trigger your attention and then disturb you from driving until you understand what they mean.

Here are the two options explained:

1. Dash brightness control light

This light looks like a speedometer with a little light bulb near it. From the driver's place, you will probably not see the light bulb and will only see the speedometer with some dot near it. It's white in color.

Such light is presented in those generations of the Nissan Altima that have a special knob in their dashes that helps regulate the brightness of the dash lights. So, you need to turn this knob to the right or left side to make the dash brighter or dimmer.

But the problem is that when you are driving at night, you don't see this knob and will have to spend quite a lot of time finding it. So, Nissan came up with the idea to put the white speedometer light just to mark the location of this knob.

Here are some patterns for this light:

• the dash brightness control light is off whenever the overall lighting is off;
• the light comes on the dash once the dash lights up and the function of brightness control may be needed;
• once the light is on, you can use the black knob located in the dash to change the brightness of the dash lights;
• turn the knob right to increase the brightness and turn it left to dim the dash lights;
• you can't turn off the white speedometer light easily - it automatically goes off once the lighting is off.

Well, you have two options to turn off this light so that it doesn't disturb you. One option is by using the OBD2 scanner and setting up the new scenario for this light. You will most certainly need some professional help with this. The other option is to eliminate the LED light that sits behind this function.

You may easily damage the dash if you try to do something of the above-mentioned on your own. So, you better get used to it and the white speedometer light will not bother you anymore.

2. Cruise control light

Ironically, there is the second light on your dash that reminds the white speedometer of approximately the same size as the dash brightness light. This is the light that indicates the work of the cruise control system.

In different generations of the Altima, it may be placed in different locations on the dash. Once this light is on, you can understand that the cruise control function is activated and you may set up the needed speed.

Here's how it works:

• once you press the cruise control button on the steering wheel, the white speedometer light will go on the dash in the Nissan Altima;
• it shows you that the cruise control function is ready to work;
• then, you use the plus and minus buttons to set up the needed speed and you can release the gas pedal;
• now, the car will maintain the set speed and will do this without you holding your foot on the gas pedal;
• whenever you need to accelerate or brake, you may just press the gas or brake pedals and then set up the needed speed again.

During all the time that the cruise control is activated, you will see the white speedometer light on the dash. This is the indication that the system is ready to get your instructions and to maintain the needed speed of your Nissan Altima.

If this light is disturbing you and you don't need the cruise control function right now, you can easily turn it off just by pressing the cruise control button again. Once you press it, the speedometer light will go off immediately.

What to do if you see the speedometer warning light in the Altima?

Actually, this is not a warning light but an info light. It gives you information about some functions in your car that are activated at the moment. That's why, you shouldn't do anything.

If you see the dash brightness light on the dash, you need to know that the lighting in your car is on now and you can control the dash brightness. That's all - no need to worry about anything.

If you see the cruise control light on the dash, you should check if you need the cruise control function right now. If you need it, just set up the speed and drive with even more comfort. If you don't need it, just press the cruise control button once again and the light will go off.

That's all - there is nothing bad or broken that these lights can tell you about, so don't worry, and just keep driving your vehicle further.

Why doesn't the Nissan Altima manual say anything about these lights?

Well, here's how it happens: you see the white speedometer light on the dash and think that there is some problem with the dash. You go to the driver's manual but don't find this light among the warning lights after looking through them several times. You start panicking and thinking that there is a serious and uncommon issue with your car.

But stop worrying - there is a simple explanation for the misunderstanding.

Nissan did include these lights in the manual. The problem is that you didn't read the needed section. These are not the warning lights but the information lights that are described in the sections of dash brightness control and cruise control. Just read those sections in the driver's manual to understand what's going on.

It's very important to skim through the manual and read about the most important functions of your vehicle. If you don't do that, you will be driving without a proper understanding of the possible functions and other good things that your Altima offers.

Final words

Now you know that the white speedometer light in your Nissan Altima may mean the dash brightness control knob location or the activation of the cruise control function. It's as easy as that - it doesn't mean any problems and doesn't require immediate action from you.

The best thing you can do is to read more about each of the lights in the driver's manual. You may have thought that Nissan forgot to include the information about these two lights in their manual. But no, you were just searching in the wrong place.