July 14, 2021 - 4:07 AM
Americans are holding onto their vehicles longer than ever, with the average age of a car in 2020 rising to a record 12.1 years, according to data from IHS Markit. But if you own a car for long enough and something goes wrong mechanically, you’re likely to see an amber check engine light somewhere in the gauge cluster. Formally known as the malfunction indicator lamp, it is a signal from the vehicle’s engine computer that something’s wrong.