How To Fix Brake Lights That Stay On

Remember in my April update post, I said that my newly acquired truck was a bit tricky?  I think it just needs to know that it's loved, but never the less.. when I came outside the other night and saw that the brake lights were on... love is not what I felt.

If you have an older vehicle, this may happen to you.  I bet, if you look in the driver side floor board, you'll see something like this.

That broken plastic thingy is the bumper for the break light switch.  It hooks right in a hole at the top of your brake pedal.  Normally when the brake pedal is not depressed, it rests right up on another metal piece and the switch goes off.

When you push the pedal it loses the connection from the metal piece/switch and your brake lights come on. But when it's busted up like this one, the connection is never made, so lights stay on.
Here's another picture of the area.

A very simple fix for this is to got to the hardware store and get a nut and bolt (or you may have one at home) and slip it right through the hole.  I of course didn't have a nut and bolt at home that I could find, so I had to improvise.  Are you ready for this??  I had been practicing making flowers out of material and had an extra one on hand... and some hot glue.

My husband says hot glue fixes everything.  He may be right!  I just hot glued that bad boy right over the hole and let go of the brake pedal and the lights went off!  My Papaw would be proud.  :)

Now, is this a permanent fix?  No way!  But it got me to the hardware store that is 20 miles away with WORKING break lights.  The hot glue will not stand up to temperature fluctuations and will eventually come off, so it needs to be fixed properly with either a part from the auto store or with a nut and bolt.  

I'm adding a link below to a video on YouTube that shows a guy fixing the same problem with a nut and bolt.  His video is what made me realize that I didn't have to take my truck in to the shop, which in my book is a good day!  So THANK YOU "Random Knowledge Guy"!

Has this ever happened to you??  It was definitely not something I had seen before, but now I'll know how to fix it if it ever happens again!  Life is about learning!  :)