Passat brake lights not working

[Ericinmd]

recently our 2003 passat wagon's brake lights do not work - very weird. I have heard this could be related to the cruise control not working ..any thoughts?

[stuart]

Sounds like you have just developed the very common brake light switch fault These are very common to break, and, for safety reasons it will stop you using the cruise control, after all, when you put your foot on the brake it disenagages the CC.

Cheap repair, around £10 for a switch (if in UK)

Stuart

[Ericinmd]

thanks! this is great news! thinking of going to a Sears auto place today (only shop open on sundays here) - do you think they will be able to fix?

[stuart]

If they keep the switch in stock, I do not think this is a big job to do.

[maliceinwonderland]

Hey Guys, Wondered if you could offer some help or advice?

I have recently notice that the drivers side rear brake lights fail to light up when depressing the brake pedal, having taken apart the rear light block and checked the bulbs, all four are working and lit up. I'm guessing that the top two bulbs have some sort of capacitor which makes them brighter when the pedal is depressed, the passenger side and mid level boot light still light up fine. I'm not sure this is a brake switch issue as my cruise control is working just fine.

I think this is probably a wiring fault but my local dealer would only quote me £70 an hour labour to fix it and i would rather have some idea about what they need to do to see if i can do it instead.

I have a 2000 1.8T vw passat.

any ideas gratefully recieved.

Michael

[davegwynn]

Michael, this is just a bit of a shot in the dark here, but I changed the bulbs in my 2000 passat estate the other day, and thought to myself 'why the hell are there two filaments in this thing?'
Might it be that one filament = lights on, and both = brakeing?

Have you tried swapping the bulbs over?

Cheers,

Dave