A few months ago, I finally got around to sending my Saab 9-5′s Information Display off to be repaired.  (That story would make a good blog post itself…)  Soon after it came back, now with 100% working pixels, my Saab wanted to test it out.  It did so by telling me: BRAKE LIGHT FAILURE.

Okay, no big deal; you can replace the brake light on a SportWagon with the provided screwdriver and about three minutes’ time.  (The only trick is realizing that you have to sort of rip the thing back and to the side after undoing the two screws, as the front edge of the light assembly is held in place by two friction-fit pop-in pins.)

I have my girlfriend Kim go around back while I step on the brake, so we can identify which light has failed.

They’re all working.

So this happens sometimes; you get a bulb with a loose filament that gets intermittent.  I push CLEAR on the SID.  A day or two later: BRAKE LIGHT FAILURE.

But they still all work. Continue reading »