Brake Light Switch (near pedal) Failure

[PCho222]

What's up guys. First all I just wanted to say thank you for posting this information up. I was staring down the barrel of a potentially costly repair and avoided it thanks to the info here. I have, however, figured out a cheaper and easier solution than the zip-tie and stop-pad replacement. The zip-tie method was great but it pushed the plunger in too far and force me to apply the brakes harder than necessary to activate the brake light. Replacing the stop-pad would be the way to get it back to OEM standards but the parts have to be ordered and its a b^%&# to install. So what I did was go to home depot and buy a pack of Neodymium Disc Magnets (.472 in. diameter x .118 in. thick) and placed it on the contact side of the bracket that the original stop-pad was mounted to. Literally installs in a few seconds and brings the brake light activation back to oem standards. Hope this helps for anyone in the future.

That's an awesome solution, probably way more permanent than the POS rubber/plastic that comes stock. I find it amusing that this happened to me a couple months after this thread was made. Mine is a 2015 as well. I think we might be realizing the lifespan of this part.

For anyone else that can't find magnets that shape or don't want to wait for the OEM one to come in, I ended up just swinging by Advance Auto and finding the closest looking object made out of a hard rubber. My shop happened to have a bunch of these things https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p...es/11813107-P?searchTerm=brake+pedal+stop+pad in store. The plug-end isn't the right size, but I spent five minutes with a razor blade and shaved it down to where the plug was just a bit over-sized for the hole, jammed it as far is it would go, then used some hemostats to pull it through all the way and it is now stuck in there good due to friction. I doubt it will come loose anytime soon. Brake lights are just as sensitive as it was OEM.

What ridiculousness that this part is this shoddy... The clutch uses a similar pad from what I saw under there and the rubber is also a discolored yellow and looks like it could go any month now. I think it would be wise to replace both of them while you are down there if people are having this issue.

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[Warhorse]

Really appreciate the info people. My car started losing power while I was out today, unless I went wot it just stalled and slowed during normal driving. I started digging into threads about throttle bodys and stall outs thinking this is about too suck. That's when I noticed my brake lights were still on about an hour after parking. At this point I thought about pouring gas on the whole thing and being done with it, but I researched the new problem and found myself here. Sure enough I went back out with a flashlight and found the broken pieces of the old pad in floorboard. Will fix it in the morning with the part from advanced auto. Thanks again guys for doing the legwork and getting people back to driving.

 

[Freddy2707]

It looks like this issue is starting to happen to a lot of 2015 S550s. I was able to get the brake rubber pad from the Toyota Dealership for $1.35. Same issue happened to 2 other S550s in my area.

 

[GT Pony]

It looks like this issue is starting to happen to a lot of 2015 S550s. I was able to get the brake rubber pad from the Toyota Dealership for $1.35. Same issue happened to 2 other S550s in my area.

@Freddy2707
Can you please post the Toyota part number so people have that option - thanks.

 

[MyLittlePony2015]

First of all, I’m thankful for this forum as this problem happened to me yesterday afternoon. I was driving home from the gym, noticed I could not accelerate passed 40mph, my “no hill start available” sensor came on and then I found the broken rubber stop pad on my doormat and I was super pissed! After I read this forum, I went to Home Depot and purchased the magnets for $4.97 and tried this method first, since Advanced Auto Parts & Amazon was going to take a couple days to ship the rubber pad. Anyways, I’m sticking to the magnets! Awesome idea and works like a charm. Just held down the brake, inserted one magnet on the contact side, adjusted it with the tip of a flat head screwdriver so it would make contact with sensor bolt, release the brake and BOOM! Took me less than a minute. I also placed a magnet on the opposite side just for added security. Thanks Cocamo85! What would be a $500+ job by Ford can be done in less than a minute for $5.

What's up guys. First all I just wanted to say thank you for posting this information up. I was staring down the barrel of a potentially costly repair and avoided it thanks to the info here. I have, however, figured out a cheaper and easier solution than the zip-tie and stop-pad replacement. The zip-tie method was great but it pushed the plunger in too far and force me to apply the brakes harder than necessary to activate the brake light. Replacing the stop-pad would be the way to get it back to OEM standards but the parts have to be ordered and its a b^%&# to install. So what I did was go to home depot and buy a pack of Neodymium Disc Magnets (.472 in. diameter x .118 in. thick) and placed it on the contact side of the bracket that the original stop-pad was mounted to. Literally installs in a few seconds and brings the brake light activation back to oem standards. Hope this helps for anyone in the future.

What's up guys. First all I just wanted to say thank you for posting this information up. I was staring down the barrel of a potentially costly repair and avoided it thanks to the info here. I have, however, figured out a cheaper and easier solution than the zip-tie and stop-pad replacement. The zip-tie method was great but it pushed the plunger in too far and force me to apply the brakes harder than necessary to activate the brake light. Replacing the stop-pad would be the way to get it back to OEM standards but the parts have to be ordered and its a b^%&# to install. So what I did was go to home depot and buy a pack of Neodymium Disc Magnets (.472 in. diameter x .118 in. thick) and placed it on the contact side of the bracket that the original stop-pad was mounted to. Literally installs in a few seconds and brings the brake light activation back to oem standards. Hope this helps for anyone in the future.

 

[Cobra Jet]

Bump - this is still an issue and NHTSA should be notified by anyone who has had such a failure.

 

[99Zeus99]

Bump - this is still an issue and NHTSA should be notified by anyone who has had such a failure.

My sister just had this happen to her 2015 GT yesterday. Thanks to everyone who helped this thread and make it an easy fix.

 

[GT Pony]

My sister just had this happen to her 2015 GT yesterday. Thanks to everyone who helped this thread and make it an easy fix.

I might just be preemptive and take the OEM pad out and put the aftermarket pad I bought - described in Post #28. Don't really want to be far away from home and have this POS OEM pad break and fall off.

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/th...near-pedal-failure.122100/page-2#post-2602818

 

[FBO5.0]

Really appreciate the info people. My car started losing power while I was out today, unless I went wot it just stalled and slowed during normal driving. I started digging into threads about throttle bodys and stall outs thinking this is about too suck. That's when I noticed my brake lights were still on about an hour after parking. At this point I thought about pouring gas on the whole thing and being done with it, but I researched the new problem and found myself here. Sure enough I went back out with a flashlight and found the broken pieces of the old pad in floorboard. Will fix it in the morning with the part from advanced auto. Thanks again guys for doing the legwork and getting people back to driving.

I had this happen to me. Until I had a chance to fix it, I figured the sensor was probably in circuit with the traction control. If the car thinks that you're on the brakes for a long time and not slowing down, I figured it might kill signal to the throttle body.
I held down the traction button for 5 seconds to completely turn off traction control, and the throttle problem stopped completely. I still wasn't able to use cruise control because the car thinks my brakes are being used and brakes cancel out your cruise when you apply them. I didn't have time to fix the root problem right away, but this made the car safer to drive in the meantime.

 

[JessV]

I pulled my car into the garage and thought a ghost was still sitting in the drivers seat. My car has done some weird things before, but never to where I had seen my brake lights (along with the LED bar at the top) still on. As everyone else, I found the broken yellow tinted-like rubber pieces on the floor mat.

I about broke down in tears and wanted to give up on my car whenever I read on here how much it was going to cost me if I went to the dealership to have this simple problem fixed as I have recently had to replace my alternator, radiator hose, and two rotors in the rear. My car is at that stage where things are beginning to go bad (she just hit over 102,000+ miles), but damn I don't want to get rid of her.

I'm going to Home Depot tomorrow to buy the magnets that Corey suggested. I'm really nervous because I really have no idea what the hell I'm doing, so I am going to try to judge/follow by the pictures. Any more advice or is it really as simple as placing a magnet on each side of that metal bracket?

 

[PCho222]

I pulled my car into the garage and thought a ghost was still sitting in the drivers seat. My car has done some weird things before, but never to where I had seen my brake lights (along with the LED bar at the top) still on. As everyone else, I found the broken yellow tinted-like rubber pieces on the floor mat.

I about broke down in tears and wanted to give up on my car whenever I read on here how much it was going to cost me if I went to the dealership to have this simple problem fixed as I have recently had to replace my alternator, radiator hose, and two rotors in the rear. My car is at that stage where things are beginning to go bad (she just hit over 102,000+ miles), but damn I don't want to get rid of her.

I'm going to Home Depot tomorrow to buy the magnets that Corey suggested. I'm really nervous because I really have no idea what the hell I'm doing, so I am going to try to judge/follow by the pictures. Any more advice or is it really as simple as placing a magnet on each side of that metal bracket?

You shouldn't be worried about it. Anyone short of a quadriplegic should be able to fix it, and it's even easier if you're going the magnet route because you don't need hemostats or long needle nose to try and squeeze a little rubber stopper back into the pedal like I did. Of all the Fordisms this car has troubled me with, this was by far the easiest thing to fix despite how important it was.

If it makes it easier for you, just look at your brake pedal switch itself (https://www.ebay.com/itm/Motorcraft...itch-for-Ford-Mercury-Brand-New-/311368693778) and understand what you're accomplishing with the magnet/stopper. That switch is mounted above your pedal assembly and points down towards the brake pedal and behaves like an "active low" i.e. when you let off the brake, the pedal goes up and pushes the black rod-like switch inwards thus telling the car the brake is no longer applied. Opposite happens when you push the brake down far enough that the switch comes out and opens the circuit which turns your brake lights on. If you wanted to confirm that this was the issue yourself, reach down there and push the switch in with your finger and the brake lights should turn off. That cheap POS plastic bit you're holding is the stopper on the pedal that the rod rests against. When it broke off, there's no longer enough material to fully push the switch in and so the car thinks the brakes are on. All you're doing is wedging a little magnet (roughly the thickness of the original stopper) onto the pedal where the stopper used to be which then closes that gap and fixes the issue.

Feel around under there tonight for the brake switch and then feel the opposite side towards the pedal. There should be a metal piece with a hole in it which is where the stopper plugged into. Sandwiching a second magnet on the backside of the metal bracket isn't even necessary but might as well if you're already down there.

 

[Blocka]

I pulled my car into the garage and thought a ghost was still sitting in the drivers seat. My car has done some weird things before, but never to where I had seen my brake lights (along with the LED bar at the top) still on. As everyone else, I found the broken yellow tinted-like rubber pieces on the floor mat.

I about broke down in tears and wanted to give up on my car whenever I read on here how much it was going to cost me if I went to the dealership to have this simple problem fixed as I have recently had to replace my alternator, radiator hose, and two rotors in the rear. My car is at that stage where things are beginning to go bad (she just hit over 102,000+ miles), but damn I don't want to get rid of her.

I'm going to Home Depot tomorrow to buy the magnets that Corey suggested. I'm really nervous because I really have no idea what the hell I'm doing, so I am going to try to judge/follow by the pictures. Any more advice or is it really as simple as placing a magnet on each side of that metal bracket?

You're scaring me my car is at 90k miles. I just had this break switch issue happen. Im going to order the part in the morning. I already had to fix the evaporator core. I went a whole florida summer with no AC back in 2018.

Im debating if i should trade this care in before it starts to fall apart

 

[GT Pony]

What's up guys. First all I just wanted to say thank you for posting this information up. I was staring down the barrel of a potentially costly repair and avoided it thanks to the info here. I have, however, figured out a cheaper and easier solution than the zip-tie and stop-pad replacement. The zip-tie method was great but it pushed the plunger in too far and force me to apply the brakes harder than necessary to activate the brake light. Replacing the stop-pad would be the way to get it back to OEM standards but the parts have to be ordered and its a b^%&# to install. So what I did was go to home depot and buy a pack of Neodymium Disc Magnets (.472 in. diameter x .118 in. thick) and placed it on the contact side of the bracket that the original stop-pad was mounted to. Literally installs in a few seconds and brings the brake light activation back to oem standards. Hope this helps for anyone in the future.

Did you have someone watch the tail lights activate while you pressed on the brake pedal? Just want to make sure the brake lights come on when the pedal it moved just a little ways off of the stop. Don't want anyone following me getting a late/delayed indication I'm pressing the break pedal.

 

[JessV]

Hello, Stang gang!

I apologize I didn't immediately post a response to finally getting the damn thing fixed Wednesday! I followed up on the advice and lo and behold, IT WORKED!

Let's go back to Wednesday-- I had no one able to take me to Home Depot as my friends were working as well as my parents and Uber would've been $40. So I decided I couldn't wait and drove to Home Depot in the Stang, which is about 15 minutes from my house. I decided to take some back roads as opposed to the main streets so I didn't have to deal with many people behind me. It was pretty embarrassing as I had to turn on my flashers to alert the drivers behind me to pay attention, that I was stopping (red lights, drivers turning, etc). I experienced the "limp mode" some of you were talking about and it was a very odd feeling. The car almost seemed to be losing power between 40-50 mph, almost like it couldn't get any gas. I had to floor it to keep up with the flow of the speed limit. I even put it in Sport mode to see if it made a difference to which it did not. I came to stop at a red light and the "Hill Assist Unavailable" warning came up on the dash, which I found was odd as I wasn't on an incline. Fast forward to Home Depot and went to the "Fasteners" section. Met a cool associate there who was baffled when I told him about what I was fixing and how Ford was going to charge me $300-700 for a repair that I could potentially fix with these $5 magnets. Went out to the car and turned it on and put the AC on full blast on the floor since it was about 95 degrees and sweltering hot (FL weather, man). Attached the magnets like as shown and went around the car and the brake lights were off! I did a test when I was reversing in some random Chevrolet Colorado's reflective grille while tapping the brakes to see if they were functioning like new and was so happy!!!

I couldn't thank this forum enough. You guys are some of my heroes now. I hope this can be a learning guide for future owners who have this problem and do their research before heading to the Stealership!

One question that I do have, however, is in regards to the placement of my magnets. As you can see in the image, the magnet behind wanted to attach itself higher than be in precise measurement with the magnet that the one in the front was in. Would this pose a problem in the future or is everything okay as shown? I'm a pilot who is usually gone for 3-4 days straight with my car being left alone after driving to the airport, so it would be horrendous if I come back to my car and discover the battery is dead because the brake lights managed to somehow come back on again due to the magnets moving or failing when I was gone. It's been 2 days since I did this fix and nothing has changed yet *knock on wood*. What do you folks think? Would it be okay the way it is or should I attach two magnets on the right side of the metal bar?

Again, thank you all SO MUCH!

 

[FBO5.0]

Hello, Stang gang!

I apologize I didn't immediately post a response to finally getting the damn thing fixed Wednesday! I followed up on the advice and lo and behold, IT WORKED!

Let's go back to Wednesday-- I had no one able to take me to Home Depot as my friends were working as well as my parents and Uber would've been $40. So I decided I couldn't wait and drove to Home Depot in the Stang, which is about 15 minutes from my house. I decided to take some back roads as opposed to the main streets so I didn't have to deal with many people behind me. It was pretty embarrassing as I had to turn on my flashers to alert the drivers behind me to pay attention, that I was stopping (red lights, drivers turning, etc). I experienced the "limp mode" some of you were talking about and it was a very odd feeling. The car almost seemed to be losing power between 40-50 mph, almost like it couldn't get any gas. I had to floor it to keep up with the flow of the speed limit. I even put it in Sport mode to see if it made a difference to which it did not. I came to stop at a red light and the "Hill Assist Unavailable" warning came up on the dash, which I found was odd as I wasn't on an incline. Fast forward to Home Depot and went to the "Fasteners" section. Met a cool associate there who was baffled when I told him about what I was fixing and how Ford was going to charge me $300-700 for a repair that I could potentially fix with these $5 magnets. Went out to the car and turned it on and put the AC on full blast on the floor since it was about 95 degrees and sweltering hot (FL weather, man). Attached the magnets like as shown and went around the car and the brake lights were off! I did a test when I was reversing in some random Chevrolet Colorado's reflective grille while tapping the brakes to see if they were functioning like new and was so happy!!!

I couldn't thank this forum enough. You guys are some of my heroes now. I hope this can be a learning guide for future owners who have this problem and do their research before heading to the Stealership!

One question that I do have, however, is in regards to the placement of my magnets. As you can see in the image, the magnet behind wanted to attach itself higher than be in precise measurement with the magnet that the one in the front was in. Would this pose a problem in the future or is everything okay as shown? I'm a pilot who is usually gone for 3-4 days straight with my car being left alone after driving to the airport, so it would be horrendous if I come back to my car and discover the battery is dead because the brake lights managed to somehow come back on again due to the magnets moving or failing when I was gone. It's been 2 days since I did this fix and nothing has changed yet *knock on wood*. What do you folks think? Would it be okay the way it is or should I attach two magnets on the right side of the metal bar?

Again, thank you all SO MUCH!

I doubt it will be a problem again, but if you turn off your traction control by holding the button down for 5 seconds, it will eliminate that sluggish problem with the throttle that you had. The traction control thinks you're hitting the brakes and speeding up so it kills signal to the throttle.

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