Am I imagining things?

Sybaris · June 17, 2019

Ok so I had my NX serviced in Jan by Lexus and back then they said I needed new front and rear brake pads and discs..... for £850 (yes £200 was parts and the rest labour).

Not happy with that I waited until recently and had my independent trusted mechanic check what was required and the car just needed pads all round and front discs, and I had him do the work using OEM parts not copies.

Now before I had the brakes done, when I started the car, the parking brake switch never illuminated the red LED and the dashboard didn't display the handbrake light., you could just shift

in to D and drive. When you parked and put it in to D and shut down, the parking brake light would display.

Since I had the brakes done, when I start up, the parking brake switch now displays the red LED and the dashboard shows the parking brake light.

I am now confused. Was it wrong before and right now or right before and wrong now?

Any ideas? What does your car do?

DanD · June 18, 2019

The way it should work is that as soon as your put the car into P (not D, as per your post), the parking brake should activate (you can hear it doing so) and the parking light should display on the dash. When you switch the car on, the parking light should show on the dash because the parking brake is on, and go off when the parking brake deactivates as you switch to either D or R.

The alternative is to have the parking brake in manual mode (in which case the green AUTO LED is switched off).

In all cases, the red LED is only switched on when the parking brake is applied.

Now... your post confuses me:

11 hours ago, Sybaris said:

Now before I had the brakes done, when I started the car, the parking brake switch never illuminated the red LED and the dashboard didn't display the handbrake light., you could just shift into D and Drive

This would suggest that the parking brake was in manual mode, and that you never (unknowingly maybe) applied it. The car would have been immobilised by the P position, but without the parking brake being applied. HOWEVER...

11 hours ago, Sybaris said:

When you parked and put it in to D and shut down, the parking brake light would display.

... this contradicts my theory and would suggest that the parking brake was in AUTO mode (assuming you mean P and not D) and was being applied as you switched off.

😶