Brake Override Malfunction..

Fellow Taco Fans!:

A brief story of my tale of woe:
I'm on a long trip in my '16 TRD Off Road and suddenly get "Brake Override Malfunction" warning light. I pull over and shut off the engine. Big mistake! It won't restart, and no brake lights. Of course, no cell service. Hitch a ride to town to call a tow truck, and the driver calls two friends who are mechanics, and after a lot of troubleshooting and head scratching one of them gets it started. We did buy a brake switch and tried it but it didn't help.

I finish my drive home, no more problems and it starts fine the next day. But then, driving around doing errands, same "Brake Override Malfunction" along with "Check Cruise Control" and "ABS" warnings, with a side order of car alarm going off. And, even while running it gets stuck in Park.

I back into my garage fearing it won't restart and sure enough, it won't!

Possible issue, or maybe a red herring; where I was visiting has a lot of mouse problems, and there were some mouse tracks visible on the engine. We all checked everywhere possible to see if there was any evidence of chewed wires, but no luck there.

So, obviously a brake issue of some sort, but where to start? My Toyota experts in my small town are booked through Aug 25.

Thanks so much in advance!

 

Use a light and inspect the switch that connects directly to the brake pedal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAXx-V2IzpI

 

You happen to have pedal commander installed?

 

Yeah, thanks! As said, we replaced that and it wasn't the problem...

 

Remove it and clear the code. That should be it. Make sure all the connectors/ wires are plugged in tight

 

bulalo, thanks. No pedal commander.

 

How about aftermarket led taillights. It’s been known to cause that too. There’s a thread about that somewhere. . Ok for a while then suddenly ….

 

No aftermarket led taillights either....

 

I probably won't be of too much help, but having multiple vehicles taken out of the game over the years by vermin, I will say this.. (and you probably already know it) All it takes is one wire to cause a lot of problems..

That said, IME any issue involving severed wiring doesn't take long to rear it's head. If you'd been on the road for any period of time before experiencing the malfunction, it's probably a safe bet to look elsewhere.

Good luck with it, and plz let us know what it was when you get it sorted.

 

I once crossed a couple wires on accident when working on a Taillight. Blew a fuse in the engine bay. Had the same issue. Replaced fuse, checked wiring was correct, issue didn't come back. Hope it's that simple

 

Thanks, yeah, I was on the road for a good 4 hours before the warning light appeared.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/brake-override-malfunction.513254/

 

Probably a long shot, but I have had some weird things happen when a battery is close to dying, and the voltage occasionally dips slightly enough to make things haywire but the engine still runs. It would be easy enough to check the voltage while running and not and see if it's borderline. You should have about 13.8V running and above 12V while off.

I drove my 02 4 runner with a dying battery 3 miles to Oreilly's one day with the alarm going off and lights flashing, they all said they thought I was going to drive thru the building. New battery and all was well.

 

My 2021 has had this brake override malfunction twice so far. The first time was at 1500 miles then last week at just over 5100 miles. Both times I simply turn the truck off and back on a few times and it clears itself. Definitely something I shouldn’t be dealing with, with a brand new truck! Please let me know if you find out anything.

 

Installed pedal commander or something similar?

 

The first time I had nothing, currently I do have a Mid-Atlantic Off-Roading throttle controller I hooked up several months ago.

 

That should be it . Several members here are experiencing the same after plugging something in the pedal . Usually manifests after several months. Some members here also have that error months after they installed led rear tail lights

 

Wonder why it throws that certain error message and at such random times…

Would an OVTune work better than having the throttle controller??

 

Kd max in my experience is the best there is. Pm @PapaRee or @TWTaco for any questions. They made kdmax

 

Definitely going to look into it.. Thank you!

I also see good feedback about @Stormpeacock
I’m 45 minutes from Atlanta so that would be a lot closer.