Brake lights won't go out!

**SinisterA4** · 04-30-2008 11:03 AM

Hey guys,

Looking for some clarification/reassurance/sanity with a problem that I am having with my car. In the past 2 weeks I would go to get into my car and the battery is dead. I had the alternator checked and it's fine and the battery checked out good too.

So last night, I go into the store and when I looked at the back of my car, my brake lights stayed on. Does this sound like a malfunction of the brake light switch? Also, I can only assume this has been happening for a while and was causing my battery to die.

Car: Stock 02 A4 1.8T

Thanks for the help.

Erik

**shedpress** · 05-05-2008 08:02 AM

Sounds like the Brake Light Switch to me. If it's like the MK4 vws, then it's a pretty easy thing to order the part and put it in yourself. They were pretty cheap (less than $20) for the MK4, too IIRC.

**AudiA4Turbo22** · 05-05-2008 08:08 AM

^^x2 brake light switch!

**SinisterA4** · 05-05-2008 12:59 PM

Thank god, I am not going insane.

I was starting to think that Audi's had electrical gremlins that came standard.

**diztek** · 08-28-2009 08:52 PM

same thing is happening to me. the weird thing is htat i actaully took the brake light switch out and i was holding it in my hand and the brake lights were still on. wtf???

**[email protected]** · 08-28-2009 08:57 PM

Brake light switch FTW!

This happened to me...I walked across the street to my parking garage, leave the elevator to see my car's brake lights on. I think, "that's weird", get in my car and go.

Two days later, I'm walking out of the elevator and sure enough, the brake lights are on.

I started stressing pretty bad...just to find out it was a $5 brake light switch.

Took me all of 6 minutes to replace it and haven't had a problem since!

Kinda funny though, I was thinking the exact same thing. Sometimes the brake lights would flicker and I thought Audi had some SERIOUS electrical gremlins...scared me

**diztek** · 08-29-2009 03:29 AM

shouldnt the brake lights go out when i have the brake light switch disconnected?

**diagnosticator** · 08-29-2009 04:29 AM

Originally Posted by SinisterA4

Hey guys,

Looking for some clarification/reassurance/sanity with a problem that I am having with my car. In the past 2 weeks I would go to get into my car and the battery is dead. I had the alternator checked and it's fine and the battery checked out good too.

So last night, I go into the store and when I looked at the back of my car, my brake lights stayed on. Does this sound like a malfunction of the brake light switch? Also, I can only assume this has been happening for a while and was causing my battery to die.

Car: Stock 02 A4 1.8T

Thanks for the help.

Erik

Since the brake light is ON, when it supposed to be OFF, the brake light switch is working, it just needs to be adjusted.

The brake light switch does not activate the brake lights directly, instead the switch is an input to the Central Electric Control Module that then energizes and de-energizes the brake lights according to the state of the brake light switch.

**fcamargo6thave** · 10-23-2011 03:12 PM

this happens to me on a daily basis thanks search function

**gunde** · 10-23-2011 04:03 PM

On my 2002, the cecm is fried (for that function anyway). So I wired the brake light switch, at the pedal, directly to the brake light, until I can find a descent priced cecm.