One of my sisters friends was coming home from work Monday and was rear-end. The guy driving the other car said that her brake lights didn't come on. He was right, they didn't work. The problem was a device in her 2004 Acura Tl called a brakelight switch that went out. Now that s**t is dangerous the only warning she had was that her gear shift wouldn't shift in gear unless she used her key in the shift lock. Do Lexus have something as stupid as this in there cars?

 

all cars have brake light switches(two wires, one hot all times when you step on the brake the circuit is closed so power goes to the brake lights) . when there was a problem shifting out of park why didnt she get that looked at?

 

Even without brake lights, it's not a excuse to not see the car in front is stopping, unless she slammed on the brakes, anybody driving normally would realize she's braking.

If he claims it's impossible, does that mean he'll hit everything in front of him without a light? ie. animals like dogs and cats, he'll just run them over.

I don't think that function is stupid, but rather safe. It's her fault though for not getting it checked out and fixed, it's very dangerous.

 

As already mentioned, all cars have a brake light switch. They do fail on all cars from time to time. If they fail under a reasonable use/time then it is considered wear and tear. If there is a known fault in the switch (Like a known bad batch from a supplier) than it could be recalled. My 04 Lexus brake light switch was recalled for that very reason.

 

Even though the brake light didn't come on, shouldn't her taillights get brighter when she presses the brake?

 

exactly what i was thinking.

 

The brake lights didn't come at all the taillights didn't work at all. If you're driving in the day light and you press the brakes the taillights light up not on her Acura.

 

Dog how many women know what to do on that situation, she said she looked in her book and it told her to use a sharp object to unlock the gear shift lock.

 

Check the manual again; she probably overlooked the caution.

There usually are warnings associated with manually disengaging the shift lock.

 

the brake light switch controls the brake lights, if it fails then theres nothing that will tell the brake lights to turn on.

 

That key-in-the-switch-lock device is ONLY an emergency device that, when the shift lever jams in park, allows you to by-pass the normal requirement to have the transmission in Park and your foot on the brake to allow the lever to come back out of Park into Reverse or Drive.....so it is, in a way, connected to the brake lights. She should have it looked at IMMEDIATELY when it first happened...that by-pass switch is only intended to allow you to get to a repair shop, not keep driving indefinitely with the shift interlock and the brake lights possibly not working either.

(of course, I won't point any fingers, though, at your sister's friend, because I don't know how long she drove that way after it first happened....she could have been on the way to the shop to get it looked at when she got rear-ended)