Hello everyone,

I'm a new owner of a 2005 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro since March. I bought it from a Ford dealership pre-owned. I had it for about a month whena very strange thing started happening...

In the middle of the night around 3AM I look out my window to see my brake lights on, and solid. My first reaction was to hit my unlock button on my remote key. Sure enough, they turned off. I figured it was a fluke and disregarded it. The next night, the same thing, brake lights randomly turned on while the car was in park and shut off. I hit my remote, they went off. Before long, the remote trick wouldn't always work, I would be forced to have to walk out side and try other things like stepping on my brake peddal or cycling my headlight switch to get them to come off. No matter what I've tried, they don't fail to come on in the middle of the night. I've also kept tabs on my brake lights while I'm at work, when I go to lunch and when I leave. They have not come on what so ever during the day.

This issue has become rather odd and nobody seems to know what the cause may be. I've held off on calling an Audi dealership because I have family members who have worked in the auto biz for over 25 years and neither of them seem to have an idea, so needless to say I can imagine the dealership giving me the run-around.

If anyone here has any idea as to what could bewrong with my beautiful new Audi I'd like to hear what you have to say.

Thank you!
-StubbornAudiMan

Are you sure it is the tail lights that come on and not the brake lights? Just in case you may want to check your brake light switch inside the cabin.

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Gilles & Kathy
Quattro... because I like her on all 4
Unofficial SoCal Crew member
05 Dark Graphite BMW K1200LT
05 Audi A4 3.0 (For sale)
00 Audi A6 2.7T (Spare bike)
03 Saab Convertible (Other spare bike)

my brake lights would do that. I pulled the fuse when I parked and turned car off so as not to run down battery. I needed a new brake light switch. Do they stay on or just for a few minutes? Maybe there is a short in your fob, causing the lock button to contact occasionally or maybe it's your cat..or maybe it's the ghost of the former owner (Christine) or....maybe it's just a short in the switch.

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"Never seem to get far enough, Staying in between the lines"

'03 A6 4.2 Sport/Lux 18's. Stock otherwise (except for Aftermkt. Floor mats which add 22HP)

zippy_gg,
I believe you're right about it being the brake lights and not the "tail" lights. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks for clearing that up.


railrunner,
They do stay on all night once they've lit up. Just this morning I got up early fearing the lights came on and drained my battery (I've given up on monitoring it throughout the night for sleep's sake) knowing I'd have to jump my car. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened. Thankfully, Ihad jumper cables and another car!


How would I go about checking my brake light switch inside the cabin? And how can I check for a short in my "fob" or "cat"?


Thanks for all your advice!

most likely its the brake light switch which is a pain to fix
it seems to be a common problem for audis
i had the same problem also

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I could not tell you about changing the brake light switch, only that you can pull the fuse that controls it at night and it will not come on, thus saving your battery. just remember to put it back in before you drive and get rear ended. your car manual will tell you which one it is and the fuse panel is on the end of the left side of the dash, when you open the driver door to expose it.

As for the fob, I was kidding that you might have a faulty switch in your key fob (key) that was triggering the locks on the car, then I suggested it might be your cat (feline) sitting on your fob. It was just a joke before simply stating you needed to get a new brake light switch. I will try and look up what I paid in my paperwork and give you a parts cost.

good luck.

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"Never seem to get far enough, Staying in between the lines"

'03 A6 4.2 Sport/Lux 18's. Stock otherwise (except for Aftermkt. Floor mats which add 22HP)

Haha don't I feel sheepish. I suspected you were joking but wasn't sure if you were using some auto tech lingo lol.

Thanks for your help railrunner, I appreciate it. I'll try the fuse trick for now until I find out what the part will cost me and when I'll have the time to take it in.

Thanks again!!

the part on my car was 32.99 but the job ran around 220 total with labor. it was also affecting my engine causing it to beleive the brake was being applied, thus causing it to stay in 1st gear entirely too long.

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"Never seem to get far enough, Staying in between the lines"

'03 A6 4.2 Sport/Lux 18's. Stock otherwise (except for Aftermkt. Floor mats which add 22HP)

just replace the brake switch... its not very hard only takes like 30 minutes. all you have to do is remove the lower dash panel. there is a trick to installing the new... if it doesn't pop right back in and takes even a lil effort your doing it wrong. you have to push the plunger in slightly before you turn.i strongly suggest learning to do it yourself cause in this case you can save alot of money

and bad brake switch may but not limited to throw transmission codes / cruise control control / abs / esp codes

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Audi Technician

Well I finally got a new brake light switch. My brother-in-law works for a Lexus dealership that is owned by a guy who owns several other dealerships and was able to order the Audi part for fairly cheap, about $4 apparently. I brought my car to him, he removed the lower dash panel, popped out the old switch (it looked much smaller and shoddier then the new switch) andinstalled the new one. Took him roughly 10 minutes to complete. Of course I will be returning the favor as payment for his labor.

All is well, no more brake light problems! Thanks again guys for all your help, much appreciated.