RE: brake light

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

> Are you serious?  What's wrong with these people?  Have they no soul? 
> What would they think if they discovered I had unhooked the door
> chimer?   I'd probably be in jail.  Heretic!!  
> 
<<< MUCH OF RANT SNIPPED >>>

> Not that it's any of their business in the first place...
> 
> I had to vent at this!
> 
Not any of whose business?  Do you drive on any public roads?!

Well, if the light only indicates that the parking brake is on that might
not be such a big deal, but on many cars this same light is used to indicate
some sort of problem in the braking system ... anything from a low fluid
level to a failure in the hydraulic or boost system.  

I'm not familiar with the car in question, but if it is true that the light
only indicates that the parking brake is on (which I doubt, as the light is
on and the parking brake switch does not appear to be the cause) and there
is some other system that monitors the function of the brake system (i.e.
you have the Auto Check system), and you can prove to the inspector that the
Auto Check system is working, you might be able to make an argument with the
inspector.  

I guess I take issue with a bit of the snipped rant ... California only
inspects the tailpipe emissions and functions of the emission control
equipment as well.  It bugs the crap out of me when I have to brake hard
because I'm behind a VW bus or SUV that doesn't have any brake lights and I
can't see around them enough to know what traffic in front of them is doing.
I also hate having to look away at night because some twit doesn't have the
common decency to have their headlights adjusted properly.  The braking
system is perhaps the most important part of a car ... I don't have a
problem with a state requiring that the monitoring system that warns the
driver of a possible malfunction be checked for functionality!  I've gotta
take my car in every other year anyway ... I wish California would require
some of these additional inspections ...

One of the things I find amusing and a bit scary is that from the seat of a
motocycle at night it is often the case where a red light on the dash of a
car that you're passing catches your eye ... I know that some of them have
got to be silly things like OXS elapsed mileage odometers, and that others
are simply due to the failure of the sensors (BTST on the wife's former
"reliable" Toyota Celica) ... but some percentage of those lights are
probably bona fide problems that indirectly pose a risk to my safety!

Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)