- The type of brake light bulbs varies from vehicle to vehicle. In the new vehicles, brake lights use circuit boards and in older cars, the wiring goes directly to the bulb. All brake lights are run in parallel circuit---if one goes out, the others will still work, unlike if they were run in a series---if one fails, they all fail.
- The brake light bulbs contain two elements, each with a different intensity. The lower intensity is used for the taillight, but when the driver presses the brake pedal, the higher intensity light in the bulb lights up in conjunction with the lower intensity element in the bulb and significantly increases the brightness of the bulb. This alerts the driver behind you that you are going to slow down or come to a stop.
- If a vehicle is equipped with an after market LED brake light in the third brake light, you will notice when the driver hits the brakes, as LED lights have a higher illumination than a standard bulb. The LED lights can have many small bulbs that can come on in a sequential line, catching a driver's attention faster because of the blinking.
- There are a couple of ways to identify a brake light bulb. If both the turn signal and the brake light bulbs share a lens, the brake light bulb will have two elements running through it (usually found on older cars). The newer cars have the brake light bulb behind a red lens and the turn signal bulb behind the yellow lens. The third brake light does not share its lens with any other bulbs.
- While the wiring of the brake lights is engineered from a safety perspective, allowing all the bulbs to work except for the blown bulb, this does not apply if the brake light switch is defective. If the switch is defective, none of the brake lights will come on, and you will not be warned when the driver in front of you slows down or comes to a stop.
Comments
couponalbum said
on 3/14/2009 What about the BUDGET ??