Brake Lamp Switch

Have you ever wondered,  what is actually happening to a car that has it's brake light continuing flashing no matter the car stops or moving or even when the car has no driver in it?

That very scenario happened to me last evening. I was disembarking my Big Boy and activated my car's alarm system when suddenly the alarm just went off. Surprisingly, I went and check all four doors and made sure all were properly closed. I reactivated my alarm system and again, it went off. By now, I realised that my rear brake light was flashing, even though I was outside of the car.

So what went wrong? Below diagram shall explain.

How does a Stop Lamp Switch work?

I think a typical car has the same braking system setup as per above diagram. There's this little thing called rubber stopper that will disconnect itself from the Stop Lamp Switch simutaneouly when we press the brake pedal. When this is done, the braking light is activated. This rubber stopper failed and in my case, disintegrated (17 years old car, what do you expect) which caused the Stop Lamp Switch continued to activate even though the brake pedal has been depressed. Replacement cost should be quite cheap and in my case, the workshop i visited did not charge me anything aside from minimal labour cost.