Brake switch light failure. My first indication of failure was the brake lights remained on after shutting down the car. I pumped the pedal and this extinguished the light. The car continued to operate normally for another 500 miles until I noticed the cruise control was out. I then noticed the brake lights were not operating at all. After researching the problem I found that this is a common problem with VW's. to my surprise though the Passat which uses the same switch other vws have been recalled on has no recall yet. This switch is a very dangerous switch as it disables the brake lights providing no warning to another driver behind the car.

- Sonoma, CA, USA

I have a 2002 VW Passat. In October 2006, with approximately 50000 miles on the car, the rear brake lights suddenly stopped lighting up at all. My mechanic replaced the brake light switch, and now my lights operate normally. VW has a recall on this exact issue for other models, but not on the Passat. In my case, it seems obvious that my 2002 Passat should have been included as part of this recall as well. If this is a known problem with VW models in this year, I'm disappointed that I had to drive without brake lights (when the switch first failed), then pay out-of-pocket to fix a known failure.

- Westfield, NJ, USA