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This answer is for Nissan Altima 2007 and after.
Altima 2007 and 2008 year models are known to have brake switch issue. Symptom is simple: engine won't start because the ECU needs to know that brake pedal is depressed, but brake switch does not send the signal.
This seems to happen only sporadically even for a faulty instance. So many people just put up with it and retry after repeating hitting the brake pedal. But it gets longer time to recover.
If you bring this car to a Nissan dealership, they will charge you for the investigation itself (come on, they already know this problem!) around $150 or more, then $550 for the entire brake switch harness.
-- below is the how to part.
Just order the right part - search "nissan altima brake switch" on Google and get one from the shopping list. Price ranges from $20 to $50.
Now get a light and get under your steering wheel. You will find two switches attached to the brake harness. One on the left is the one with the problem. After slightly depressing the brake pedal with your hand, you can twist the switch counter clock wise, then it easily comes off. You can take it off from the wire by pressing on the notch.
Now connect the new switch, push in to the harness and rotate clock wise until it clicks. If you look at the switch carefully, there are threads pretty across the body of the switch. This means you can adjust the height of the switch in the harness.
Because of this design, if you install the switch too deep, you are going to depress the brake pedal with the switch and your car will run as if the brake pedal is pressed all the time (and this will ruin many things so be careful).
You can simply avoid this. Just simply push in the switch enough that the switch makes a sure click but brake pedal did not move much (about 0.2 inches). That would be adequate depth. Try out multiple different depth and drive around so you can find an optimal switch location.
This will solve another problem of the Altima' brake pedal - some are too sensitive that you are holding your foot up so it works as a strain.
I hope this explanation helps!
Wiki User
∙ 11y ago
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