diff --git a/selfdrive/ui/mici/onroad/driver_state.py b/selfdrive/ui/mici/onroad/driver_state.py
index 37306ce0d..1855d77b7 100644
--- a/selfdrive/ui/mici/onroad/driver_state.py
+++ b/selfdrive/ui/mici/onroad/driver_state.py
@@ -105,13 +105,8 @@ class DriverStateRenderer(Widget):
                                   self._rect.y + (self._rect.height - self._dm_person.height) / 2), 0.0, 1.0,
                        rl.Color(255, 255, 255, int(255 * 0.9 * self._fade_filter.x)))
 
+    green_amount = self._color_fade_filter.update(0.0 if self._awareness_unfull else 1.0)
     if self.effective_active:
-      self._color_fade_filter.update(0.0 if self._awareness_unfull else 1.0)
-      t = self._color_fade_filter.x
-      r = int(round(CONE_COLOR_GREEN[0] * t + CONE_COLOR_ORANGE[0] * (1 - t)))
-      g = int(round(CONE_COLOR_GREEN[1] * t + CONE_COLOR_ORANGE[1] * (1 - t)))
-      b = int(round(CONE_COLOR_GREEN[2] * t + CONE_COLOR_ORANGE[2] * (1 - t)))
-
       source_rect = rl.Rectangle(0, 0, self._dm_cone.width, self._dm_cone.height)
       dest_rect = rl.Rectangle(
         self._rect.x + self._rect.width / 2,
@@ -121,6 +116,9 @@ class DriverStateRenderer(Widget):
       )
 
       if not self._lines:
+        r = int(round(CONE_COLOR_GREEN[0] * green_amount + CONE_COLOR_ORANGE[0] * (1 - green_amount)))
+        g = int(round(CONE_COLOR_GREEN[1] * green_amount + CONE_COLOR_ORANGE[1] * (1 - green_amount)))
+        b = int(round(CONE_COLOR_GREEN[2] * green_amount + CONE_COLOR_ORANGE[2] * (1 - green_amount)))
         rl.draw_texture_pro(
           self._dm_cone,
           source_rect,
@@ -170,7 +168,7 @@ class DriverStateRenderer(Widget):
     self._is_active = dm_state.activePolicy == log.DriverMonitoringState.MonitoringPolicy.vision
     self._is_rhd = dm_state.isRHD
     self._face_detected = dm_state.visionPolicyState.faceDetected
-    self._awareness_unfull = self._is_active and dm_state.visionPolicyState.awarenessPercent < self.AWARENESS_UNFULL_PERCENT
+    self._awareness_unfull = self.effective_active and dm_state.visionPolicyState.awarenessPercent < self.AWARENESS_UNFULL_PERCENT
     self._face_pitch = dm_state.visionPolicyState.pose.pitch + math.radians(6) # calib or DM pose is not accurate, add a fake upward pitch to bias forward
     self._face_yaw = -dm_state.visionPolicyState.pose.yaw # undo sign flip in face_orientation_from_model to match UI convention