Parking rear and brake lights will not turn off

MABS PEñA

MEMBER
2005 HONDA CRV
4WD
MANUAL
370,635,489 MILES

Hello and greetings of panic from moi!

I had been exhausting all measures here looking at the car manual that I have but to no avail! My parking and rear lights will not turn off even when the engine is.

I am safely parked inside the comforts of my garage when I just noticed the reflection from the gate.

Help please! Somebody at this hour please. I am a woman driver and needless to say. I do not know what to do. It is getting all heated up already and I am afraid that the car, well might explode.

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1 Reply

STEVE W.

MECHANIC
13,461 POSTS

The car will not explode but the high temperatures could damage the lenses. Most likely problem is that the brake lamp switch or retainer has failed and it has locked the lights on.

First thing, try pulling the brake pedal toward the seat. It is possible the pedal travel has dropped and not turning off the switch. If that does not work the next option is to do one of two things.

One would be to remove the fuse for the brake lights. It is fuse number 7, a 15 amp fuse in the fuse box under the hood. This will shut off the lights.

The other option is to disconnect the brake lamp switch, It is up behind the dash on the support that holds the brake pedal itself. There will be a connector on it, release the tab by pressing the small tab down and pull the connector off. That should also turn off the lights. It looks like the attached image.

Not a hard item to replace, it basically snaps into the hole in the mount, you may be fortunate and it simply fell out. If so snap it back in. More than likely the little tab broke off from age and you will need to buy a new switch. They are not real expensive.

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