Tail lights working in conjunction with brake lights?!

[Gary H]

Hi folks. Here's a bit of an odd one for you which I only noticed yesterday...

Coming home from work I was in the usual rush-hour queue. There was a bus behind me and obviously with my foot on the brake, my brake lights were on. I happen to look in the rear view mirror and saw they were lit in the bus's windscreen as they should be. However...I also noticed the taillights were also lit. By that, I mean all the red lights - the light bar across the bootlid e.t.c. - as if it was dark and I had my lights on. I naturally looked to the dashboard but they weren't on - confirmed by no headlights of mine reflecting from the car I was behind... 

So, I released the footbrake when the traffic ahead started moving whilst looking at the bus and everything went out. The brake lights and taillights together... The next time I had to brake, I noticed both the brake lights and taillights/night lights came on together again... 🤔

I got home and had a mess around. The brake lights work on their own if I physically turn the lights of the car on. The night time lights at the back stay on as they should. However, when the lights are off, both the night lights and brake lights seem to work together. 

So basically my question is that is this normal or do I have some sort of weird electrical glitch which makes my rear night time taillights work in conjunction with the brake lights during daylight hours?! I can't say I've ever noticed this on another NX before, although on my way into work this morning I was behind a Mazda CX-5 which seem to perform the same 'trick'. Maybe it's normal and a 'Japanese' thing but I can't say it's something I've ever noticed before... 

[steve2006]

It does seem a bit weird but maybe designed that way, anything mentioned in the handbook?
I would ask the dealer on the next service or jump into one in the showroom and see if it does the same.

At least no one can say they didn’t see your brake lights 😀

[Gary H]

I wasn't given a handbook with mine unfortunately, Steve... That would have been my first port of call, otherwise. 

Indeed - it's something I'll note down when it's due it's first service in September and see what they say. It could very well be 'normal', but I can't say I've been beind any other NX's braking in order to comment. Certainly not one that I've noticed, anyway! 

The brake lights themselves work fine and as they should, so there's no worries there. It's just odd that the brake pedal also activates the rear 'night lights' at the same time with it if it's not dark enough to have them on properly! 

[Scotlex]

There was a recent post about the same thing recently.

I think the replies indicate that this is "normal".

[Spock66]

32 minutes ago, Gary H said:

I wasn't given a handbook with mine unfortunately

They are available online in the Lexus website.

[The Swedish Guy]

 

In "DRL-mode" rearlights are added as extra brakelights while in "headlight-mode" its just the standard 3 brake lights as on most cars