Sorry if this has been answered but I searched on this site and on goole nad couldn't find much of an answer. But the other day, all of the sudden, my brake lights stayed on even after turning my car off. I was told that it could possibly be because of the heat so just unplug the negative on the battery to let it reset. So i did that and let it sit over night and it did not fix the problem. Anyone know what is going on?

 

Alright. I can guarantee that this is the problem. It has happened to me on 2 cars.

At the top of the pedal assembly there is a brake light switch that is pressed when the pedal is not being pressed and makes the lights stay off. When you hit the pedal, the button is no longer pressed and the lights turn on. There is a little plastic or rubberish thing that pushes the button. When it breaks this will happen. The reason your lights stay on is to alert you of this problem. You can choose to replace the part, which might only be available from the dealer, or you can do what I did.

There is a hole where the rubber stopper thing was. I took a short screw with a hex head, and a nut, and put it through this hole so that the hex head pushes the button. Then I tightened the nut and walah, problem solved for eternity.

It's easier and cheaper than ordering it through the dealer, and best of all, a screw won't break from just pushing a button. I don't know why Honda used something breakable for this.
Go to the hardware store for this or if you have bolts lying around try to use those.

 

hey, thanks alot. i just used a short bolt and nut and put it on there, of course with no room down there it took me like 30 minutes to tighten. But its woking, Thanks. Only one question, its not going to be banging anything since it sticks out a little bit right? and its not going to be too hard hitting that button is it? Thanks again

 

if in doubt go OEM new part.
they do go bad. lets face it it gets pushed on ALOT!!!!!

 

I have been driving my Civic for 8 months like that and it's fine. On my new Del Sol I had to do the same thing - No problems there either.

 

Make sure your fix lets the pedal come all the way up and just press the button in sufficiently to turn the lights out. If the pedal can never come all the way up to let the master cylinder reset, eventually (after a couple of days) your brakes will start to drag.

Even at a total "stealership" it should be less than $5.00 to get the real part.

 

part cost me 2.58 at my local dealership and solved the problem