Brake lights

[dannan98]

Just stopped in to see if anyone else is having trouble with intermittent break lights staying on. Sent in to local dealer, they couldn't reproduce the issue. Wife (today) and family and friend all seen the issue. So 3 times people following me noticed 3rd light, and others stayed on while off the pedal. Happend / happens day or night. Dealer (and myself) verified micro switch on pedal is good.

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[Shane_T29]

Just found a similar issue on mine. My wife followed me around town on a drive and we found that all brake lights (including third light) function fine when I stopped at a light. They come off once I let off the brake but once I hit 20km/h they came back on and stayed on.
I have it booked in for its first service next Friday. My truck is included in the recall for the trailer brake controller.

Does yours have the towing package? I'm wondering randomly if it's towing pkg trucks only and maybe the reprogramming of the brake controller will fix it......

 

[geekjon]

I just noticed this same problem on my XL with 4K tow package. I have already had the brake controller recall performed. I cannot confirm if this problem existed before the recall was performed.
I first noticed the problem at night with the third brake light reflecting on the tailgate without my foot on the brake pedal. I just confirmed in daylight that the brake lights come on at about 10mph and stay on.

 

[geekjon]

Just stopped in to see if anyone else is having trouble with intermittent break lights staying on. Sent in to local dealer, they couldn't reproduce the issue. Wife (today) and family and friend all seen the issue. So 3 times people following me noticed 3rd light, and others stayed on while off the pedal. Happend / happens day or night. Dealer (and myself) verified micro switch on pedal is good.

Did the dealer solve this problem for you? If so, what did they do to solve it?

 

[Shane_T29]

Had my truck in for service on Friday and they claimed the brake micro switch was sticky and is being replaced under warranty. They had not seen this issue before and of course couldn't replicate it while driving it.

We will see if the switch fixes the problem, however I feel like it wont. Doesn't really explain the lights coming back on after taking my foot off the pedal.

Switch is being replaced this week and I will update afterwards if it fixes the problem.

 

[geekjon]

I agree. It does not sound like a switch problem. It sounds more like a software issue that triggers the brake lights after a certain speed. It’s likely that a lot of people have this problem and just haven’t realized it yet.

 

[Shane_T29]

I'm hoping there is a software update in the near future that fixes it. We are planning on doing a lot of long haul trips this summer and I don't really want to be responsible for causing an accident. It definitely seems intermittent though, we were driving around at night for about 45 minutes on Friday and it didn't seem to do it at all

 

[geekjon]

Just a thought, if the brake pedal switch was randomly making contact, we would see cruise control likewise randomly cancelling or not able to be set at all. I’ve experienced none of that.

 

[Shane_T29]

That's a good point.

I'm not sure if there are seperate contacts for light function and brake function maybe?

 

[geekjon]

I was afraid of this. I borrowed a trailer connector tester from Camping World, and not only do the brake lights come on and stay on at about 15mph, but so do the electric brakes.
So, if I take my camper on a planned trip this weekend, I would be dragging the brakes the whole way to our destination.
This is AFTER the brake controller was reprogrammed last month.
This photo was taken with my foot off the brake pedal.

 

[Shane_T29]

I was afraid of this. I borrowed a trailer connector tester from Camping World, and not only do the brake lights come on and stay on at about 15mph, but so do the electric brakes.
So, if I take my camper on a planned trip this weekend, I would be dragging the brakes the whole way to our destination.
This is AFTER the brake controller was reprogrammed last month.
This photo was taken with my foot off the brake pedal.

Interesting. I pulled my camper home on Sunday and the trailer brakes worked fine, they never randomly came on (this is assuming the brake light issue is still present).
Would it be outputting the brake power as default with no trailer attached? When a trailer is connected does it recognize it and then operate accordingly?
I've never had a trailer with brakes until now so I don't really know how the trailer brake circuitry is setup.

 

[PortlandME]

I haven’t noticed the brake lights coming on randomly while driving, but I have noticed from day one that the lights don’t turn off as fast as I would have expected when letting off the brake… they stay on for maybe half a second after I release the brake. I assumed this was an intentional safety feature but reading this thread I’m wondering if there’s actually some kind of issue. I’ve never had a Ford before, so maybe they all do this?

 

[geekjon]

Interesting. I pulled my camper home on Sunday and the trailer brakes worked fine, they never randomly came on (this is assuming the brake light issue is still present).
Would it be outputting the brake power as default with no trailer attached? When a trailer is connected does it recognize it and then operate accordingly?
I've never had a trailer with brakes until now so I don't really know how the trailer brake circuitry is setup.

The device I used to test this simulated a trailer connection (the Maverick thought a trailer was plugged in). The brake lights (and trailer brakes) came on and stayed on after about 10mph.

 

[Shane_T29]

The device I used to test this simulated a trailer connection (the Maverick thought a trailer was plugged in). The brake lights (and trailer brakes) came on and stayed on after about 10mph.

Ahhhh gotcha, obviously thats how it works lol, brain fart on my end.

Well I guess ill let you know if my trailer brakes stay on when i pull our camper 2 hours from home on friday.

Finger crossed

 

[skyhawk]

Another potentially serious problem with a stuck brake pedal switch, is the electronic brake transmission interlock will not work. That means the vehicle can be shifted into gear without the brake being applied. This can (and in fact has) lead to accidents when people got in the car, mistook the gas for the brake, then shifted into gear with a faulty brake switch fooling the interlock - and the car takes off like a rocket.

Here is one example of such an incident, there have been others
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813231

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