Brake light switch repair?

[jwight]

If the switch fails it essentially immobilizes the car, calling for a new switch install. There's a 450 brake light switch repair thread on clubsmartcar: Fixing a faulty brake light switch - Club smart Car but I haven't found anything similar for the 451 smarts.

Has anyone R&R'd the 451 switch and happen to have an old one available for teardown?

Thanks!

[aviator7]

Does anyone have a 451 instruction set of how to replace the brake light switch?

I have struggled for the last two hours trying to get the plug to release the switch. If anyone has a trick on how to get it done, that would be greatly appreciated!

Also, I noticed the new switches are blue and black and not the usual white ones. Possible improvment?

[SLIVERS]

Originally Posted by jwight

If the switch fails it essentially immobilizes the car, calling for a new switch install. There's a 450 brake light switch repair thread on clubsmartcar: Fixing a faulty brake light switch - Club smart Car but I haven't found anything similar for the 451 smarts.

My switch went bad early this spring. The car can be driven by pushing the button in under the shifter cover. The problem is the brake lights do not work and the warning light will be on for traction control.

Has anyone R&R'd the 451 switch and happen to have an old one available for teardown?
I originally took my switch out and tested the contacts, every thing worked fine. Put the switch back in the car and it didn't work. Took it back out, took it apart and everything (still) looked OK. I put the new one in and all worked as it should. I just now took the old switch apart and my old (451) switch looks very similar to the newer 450 switch shown in the Club smart photo. The fix that is shown very well may work but do not have time to remove new switch to try.

Thanks!

.

[jwight]

Would you mind photographing the inside of your old 451 switch (or sending it to me so I can do it?)

I have struggled for the last two hours trying to get the plug to release the switch. If anyone has a trick on how to get it done, that would be greatly appreciated!

There must be a locking tab or two on on the electrical connector...

[aviator7]

Originally Posted by jwight

Would you mind photographing the inside of your old 451 switch (or sending it to me so I can do it?)



There must be a locking tab or two on on the electrical connector...

Sorry, it took me a while to get back to this...

I never replaced the brake light switch due to the culprit being the charging wire to my Garmin Nuvi GPS. After I removed the wire, the problem disappeared and the smart still has the original part in. It was so weird that I tested it for approximately 2 more months and the problem never re-appeared. It must have been some kind of EMI that was messing with the electronics.

[jwight]

Interesting. I leave the Garmin plugged in all the time; no issues - yet. It's been discussed in other threads that leaving some accessory items plugged in can cause your issue, but it seems to be hit or miss as to which accessories on each car. Thanks for the feedback.

[aviator7]

Originally Posted by jwight

Would you mind photographing the inside of your old 451 switch (or sending it to me so I can do it?)



There must be a locking tab or two on on the electrical connector...

Ok, the switch failed this time (failure unknown) and I decided to install the new one I had stored away. The locking tab was my biggest struggle as everything was in a very restricted space with short wiring. After a long struggle, I found out how to unlock it, there is a hole on the top of the connector where you have to put in a long and thin steel pin (in my case, a very thin electronics screwdriver) through the hole to release the tab while prying the connector out at the same time. Sadly, I had to use a vise grip as space was so restricted to take the connector out of the brake switch.

Sorry, I had to crop and compress the heck out of this picture to get it under 9.7kb due to quota but the red circle is where you insert the pin to release the tab.