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Brake Light on?

4K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  steveb 
#1 ·
Ok anyone have this happen. I drive my car 30 miles this AM, all is OK... Then I get in to head home, right after I start it up & notice the brake light stayed on.. I played with the parking brake thinking that was it, but NOPE it still was on. So I called the dealer.. They don't know why.. they said could be low fluid or something else. Can you bring it by, nope I am 35 miles away. I asked is it OK to drive with it on, they said it will be ok.
all the way home I am freaking out. I read in the manual, braking distance could be effected. Do not drive with the light on.
I get to my parents house shut the car off to get the kids and when I restart it, it's Off.. Fluke?
Now do I not take it in or should I wait for it to happen again. We checked the fluid level and it's FULL..

Anyone have any ideas? BTW I have 4K miles on it and it's 3 mths old.

THANKS!!
 
#3 · (Edited)
The same EXACT thing happened to me on a trip 2 weeks ago today. I took the same actions that you apparently did, to include pulling over and checking the emergency brake lever, fluid levels, etc. No problems detected with stopping distance, etc.

I was only about 3 miles from a Dodge dealer in that area, so I immediately drove it there. When I shut the car off, the light was no longer on (I SHOULD HAVE just left it running when I pulled in...). It didn't come back on when I left that dealership or any other time on that trip or since I returned home.

Regardless, I had that dealership's service department check the car out and complete an invoice as a warranty-covered inspection for documentary purposes.

2 days later, when I took the car to my LOCAL dealership for warranty work to correct a factory paint defect, I informed them also of the brake light incident, and requested that they ALSO check it out AND DOCUMENT THE REPORT AND RESULTS.

As a note, I've had this Caliber about 4 months and have about 2,500 miles on it.

The local dealer still has the car - but I am now even MORE concerned about this "brake light" issue. Didn't someone ELSE report a similar incident in the last 2 weeks also? I'll do a search for that...
 
#6 ·
I've come to realize during my visits to repair the speed control and Uconnect failures that the Caliber is a for real, drive by wire car. I had a check engine light come on for no apparent reason and found out that there is a three start nofault reset routine built in to the main system diagnostic routine. I have not had the light come on again and concluded the most likely source is software false positives. These may set off random fault events that are device assigned. Eventually, through a series of flashes, these gremlins will dissappear. Just my hunch.
 
#7 ·
Harley said:
...... Didn't someone ELSE report a similar incident in the last 2 weeks also? I'll do a search for that...
there was another 'check engine' light incident where a bunch of ppl told the OP to get the car to his dealer asap, but he hasn't posted any follow-up msgs here.

but yah, you did find the other brake light issue.
 
#8 · (Edited)
#10 ·
thanks everyone... and definately thanks for the links to the other posts. I don't get to pop in here as often as I'd like so I miss a few things..
well it's working fine today.. so I'll just leave it be until I get it to the dealer for the recall issue next week.
 
#14 ·
Funny thing the exact same thing happened to me. Light came on so I checked the fluid level. Next time I restarted my car to take it to the dealer the light was out. That was about a month ago and have had no problems. I figured it was the brake fluid level sensor which for some reason stuck. Judging by the member who's sensor was replaced I guess I was right. Only time will tell.
 
#16 ·
Just the other day I had the mysterious ABS light on! Came out from a store, started the car, and the light stayed on. ???

Thanks to the numerous similar issues posted on this forum, I figured all the car would need was a "reboot". First I pumped the brake pedal, checked the e-brake that it was not engaged, then turned the car off, let it sit a few minutes, then started 'er back up.

Been fine since, but if it happens again, it's getting checked at next service. (i'm around 9000 miles.)
 
#17 ·
DodgeGirlKathy said:
...I figured all the car would need was a "reboot"...
The Caliber runs Windows now???? :D So when a problem occurs we should Close Windows, get out of the car, get back in, Open Windows and the car should be fine again?

I will have to remember this when I get mine.
 
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