dmhines

Went out tonight and while backing out my driveway I notice when I push in the clutch pedal my brake lights are coming on. Drive to the store and sure enough every time I clutch to shift the brake lights come on. I figure that must really be freaking folks out since I have no idea how long this has been going on.

When I get home I crawl under the dash to see what could be happening.

Unlike old cars that have a brake switch that is activated by pushing a plunger IN it seems the S197's have a brake switch that activates when the plunger is released.

There is a metal tab on the brake pedal that keeps the plunger in and when you depress the pedal the tab moves out with the pedal and the spring loaded plunger comes out and brake lights go on.

Well ... turns out the ONLY metal on the brake/clutch pedal mechanism are the pedals themselves. The entire bracket and housing is made out of PLASTIC. What was happening is pushing the clutch pedal in was causing the entire mechanism to flex just enough to cause the plunger on the brake pedal switch to come out.

It was only coming out a fraction of a millimeter but that was enough to make the brake light come on.

To fix it I slightly bent the tab on the brake pedal in toward the plunger. The brake lights still come on with very little brake pedal pressure but now the flex in the bracket when you push in the clutch is not enough to let the brakes lights come on.

Adam

Nice troubleshooting!

Matt351

If you watch the M3 vs. GT video that was posted last week you'll notice the Stang in the vid has the same issue you were experiencing. I don't know how many people noticed. I thought the driver was tapping brakes, but it was clear that he was at WOT.

06GT

This is not comforting to hear, after the plastic pedal failures in the EVOX.

Hopefully the pedals don't break off when powershifting or on the road course.

danimal15

This and some other posts are making me worry about quality of the car overall.

Now I do have a Toyota now, and it's not perfect either. The airbag light keeps coming on for no conceivable reason (I've had it checked and fixed in the past but I'm assured it's electrical, with nothing wrong with the airbag itself. Now that the light is back on again, I'm ignoring it.)

Ethanjbeau

Im pretty sure that was the angle of the camera and the sun, that happens all the time. It makes them look like they're on

Matt351

Check it out Watch closely at 1:37 and 2:22ish. It looks like they're lighting up.

DaSFGiants4Life

haha yeah, When I first saw that video and I was like WTF is he doing


I just figured he was doing the brake tap dance.

dmhines

I think that is just a glare or something because:

1) He would have had is clutch pedal depressed on the line and his brake lights would have been on. When I was stopped with clutch pedal depressed and brake pedal off .. my brake lights were on.

2) The 3rd brake light doesn't flash with the tail light.

dmhines

FYI ... Take a look at this forum ... it compares 2011 GT assembly to 2011 GT500 assembly. My 2010 uses the GT500 style assembly .. not the 2011 GT style assembly.

http://www.svtsnake.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48221

Willy Carachure

Can you send a picture of what you fix. So o don't have to spend alot of money please