Recently, I noticed that sometimes the Brake light turned on while I am driving. Is this indication that I need to replace the brakes?

Then, in a day when I turned on the car on, a "Check VSC System" message appears. When the car moved, the message went. Is this related to the brake?

The brake light still turning on randomly. No Check engine light, the brake's oil is good.

Please advise.

 

In an older conventional Camry that I used to have, the brake light would come on if the brake fluid level was low.

 

My brake fluid level in the middle of the max and min. Any other ideas?

 

When I had my '07 TCH just before trading it for the '12 TCH, I had the brake fluid level brought up to max. I ask and the tech said this was rather normal for a 5 year old car.

 

The code that set your check brake/VSC is still in the ECU memory. Have someone with a good scan tool check the history and pending codes. What you are seeing can be caused by a lot of things, some simple, some not so simple ranging from a loose connection to yaw rate sensors and ecu controllers. More than likely, the problem is a wheel speed sensor but without that code data, you are shooting in the dark.

 

The brake light once went on in my wife's Prius. Checked the fluid--it was between the min. and max. Took it to the dealer. Dealer said brake fluid was low, and everything else was OK. They topped up the fluid, and the light hasn't gone on since. Try adding fluid to the "max" mark and see if that helps.

 

Guys, the brake light could be a low fluid but the VSC light is for the stability control system. I might be wrong but I don't think that system is involved on a low fluid/general brake indicator. It is closely tied to the anti-lock brake system (both use the same basic logic circuits). It could be an accumulator, speed sensor, yaw sensor, controller of any number of things to set that light.

 

The OP reports an intermittent problem. Light comes and goes away at random. That fits with a brake fluid level that is marginal. Level switch makes then clears.

When my brake light came on and I was in cruise control, it dropped me out of cruise. Why?? It all depends on how they decide to wire it up.

 

Ron,

I agree with you on the low fluid sensor switch and what it is doing, I don't think that has anything to do with the VSC however or that system would light up every time the brake warning light would come on.

The cruise control shutting off when the brakes are applied occur on any car. That is a safety issue to cut the engine rpm's when the brakes are applied.

 

I remember in the 90's cars with ABS brakes would have the ABS warning light stay on. Most were fixed by cleaning the wheel speed sensors or replacing the defective one or all four. One defective sensor would cause the ABS system light to come on.

I'm not sure why you don't hear that much about ABS failures in the newer model vehicles after the year 2000 other then low brake fluid. I do remember (80's)? ABS brakes were only for the rear brakes to prevent the rear wheels locking up on wet pavement during heavy braking.

ABS history from wikipedia..

Early systems
ABS was first developed for aircraft use in 1929 by the French automobile and aircraft pioneer, Gabriel Voisin, as threshold braking on airplanes is nearly impossible. These systems use a flywheel and valve attached to a hydraulic line that feeds the brake cylinders.

This is from a online 'older' automotive shop manual:

The basic concept of ABSs dates back to the 1950s, but digital electronic control was not available until the 1980s. ABSs were installed on slightly more than 3 percent of domestic vehicles produced in 1987, on more than 50 percent by 1995, and almost all new vehicles built for the year 2000 had ABSs. As ABS use grows, the variations in designs will continue.

Repair:
An ABS is an electrically controlled hydraulic system. The ABS function will not work if the brakes do not work properly in their non-antilock mode. Some ABS problems will be electrical, but many will result from a hydraulic system malfunction. When such problems are detected by the ABS control module, it will disable the antilock function and light the antilock indicator lamp on the_instrument panel. The cause can be as simple as a low hydraulic fluid level or a leaking hose, line, or connection.