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Our repairs come with:A malfunctioning brake light switch might be stuck in the off position. Do I need to spell out why that’s bad? If the switch is stuck on off, the brake lights won’t turn on. Without brake lights, the car behind you doesn’t have any indication that you’re slowing down.
Conversely, your brake lights might have the opposite problem: they might not turn off. With brake lights stuck on, your car still won’t have any way of indicating to other drivers that you’re using the brakes. Now, you may think that you don’t need to see other people’s brake lights to be a good driver, but maybe don’t give other people that benefit of the doubt.
It’s not always noticeable when your brake lights are stuck on. Especially during the day, you’re probably not going to notice that your brake lights are on. Brake lights left on will slowly drain your car’s battery. Eventually the battery will run out of juice, and you won’t be able to use the electrical systems, or turn the car on.
If you have a push-button ignition, ever try to turn your car on without having your foot on the brake pedal? Or shift the gear selector out of park without your foot on the brakes? Your car won’t let you, because the brake light switch sends a signal to those systems when the brake is being depressed. If the brake pedal isn’t pressed down, then the ignition may not let you turn the car on or shift out of park. So, when the brake light switch calls in sick for the day, the ignition and gear selector may not get the message.
Get a QuoteWell, let’s start with the obvious: If you have a push-button ignition, and your car isn’t turning on because of a funky brake light switch, then a replacement is pretty urgent. What are you gonna do, push your car everywhere?
However, it’s more likely that the brake lights will just be stuck on or off. That’s a safety hazard, since the cars behind you won’t know when you’re slowing down. If that doesn’t seem important to you, I’m not sure what to tell you.
Actually, I know exactly what to tell you. It’s also illegal to have malfunctioning brake lights, and those fix-it tickets aren’t exactly cheap. Now, that got your attention, didn’t it?