Brake lights on all the time

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Thu 15 Dec 2011 16:34
Brake lights on all the time - Bobbin Threadbare

I have just driven home from work and I passed a Merc which had brake lights on and the little bar of lights in the back window too. Most off-putting as you approach as it makes you think there's a hazard/cutting up etc ahead.

How can he have managed that?! Wiring may have gone awry but can you drive an automatic with the 'brake' still on? I reckoned it to be an auto C-class early 2000s.

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Thu 15 Dec 2011 16:41
Brake lights on all the time - jamie745

Those C-Classes did have foot operated parking brakes but that cant be it. Being an early 2000s Mercedes though an electrical fault is highly probable. You cant drive an auto with the brakes on ALL the time, if you were going downhill on the other hand then he mightve had to as automatics just run away with themselves down hill, its not like you can change down a gear to limit its progress or anything you have to just go down it with your foot feathering the brake. Theres a long hill which i drive down everyday in a 30mph limit and without using the brakes i will be doing 50 by the time i reach the bottom.

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Thu 15 Dec 2011 16:53
Brake lights on all the time - RT

Surely even with a foot operated "hand"brake it's still possible to have it applied one notch - a number of cars have a brake light switch in the handbrake and brake pedal linkages.

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Thu 15 Dec 2011 16:58
Brake lights on all the time - jamie745

My 406's handbrake doesnt work, i drove to Heathrow with it fully applied before realising. Now i think about it though i probably could get the Jag to toodle on a dual carraigeway or something with my foot slightly on the brake, so long as its not sharp enough to force it to change down a gear i think it'd be possible.

I cant think why i'd want to spend time doing that though...

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Thu 15 Dec 2011 17:20
Brake lights on all the time - Fernando P

On some vehicles, when you push the footbrake pedal down, it presses on a button type switch, which activates the rear brake lights etc. The button switch may either be stuck in the "on" position for some reason or defective.

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Thu 15 Dec 2011 18:28
Brake lights on all the time - Bobbin Threadbare

Fair dos. It's a shame there's no way to let him know..!

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Thu 15 Dec 2011 19:30
Brake lights on all the time - bathtub tom

Perhaps the driver was trying left-foot-braking and nobody told them you have to take it off ;>)

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Fri 16 Dec 2011 11:18
Brake lights on all the time - Ethan Edwards

My understanding is that sometimes when a car has been 'hot wired' in the process of being stolen. When it's driven away the rear lighting often goes screwy. Which is how our boys in flourescent yellow sometimes spot something thats a little bit 'monkey'.

Thanks to Police ,Camera, Action, Crash, 'You are surrounded by Armed b*********s', Interceptors etc etc.

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Fri 16 Dec 2011 13:42
Brake lights on all the time - Bobbin Threadbare

Funnily enough, the man driving it had the aura of 'copper' about him - short sleeved white shirt.......

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Fri 16 Dec 2011 15:05
Brake lights on all the time - Ethan Edwards

dodgy wearing a summer shirt in the winter. Maybe he was a coach driver?

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Fri 16 Dec 2011 15:18
Brake lights on all the time - foxmoth

Jamie 745 information is not quite correct that you cannot resrict the speed of an auto going downhill by engaging a lower gear. Most conventional autos ( torque converter types) allow you to change down to a lower gear manualy, a facility that I use daily instead of dabbing the foot brake on a logish descent.

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Fri 16 Dec 2011 16:11
Brake lights on all the time - injection doc

My Landrover Freelander 2 auto doesnt speed up going down hill ! if it senses its speeding up it changes down automatically, its very good and does save sitting on the brakes. If the brake lights were on all the time on mine you wouldnt be able to drive it as the throttle is cut off.

If its a very steep decent and in snow or ice the HDC ( hill decent control) is fantastic and does it all for you.

Stops left foot braking ! but a b***** at roundabouts if you sit with your foot on the brake and hit the gas without lifting of the brake pedal first.

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