Brake light issue and stuck in park

Hi @bones169 ,

What is the year model of the vehicle as there are wiring differences between the models from 2001-2006.

The 2004 model shows that the not only does the brake pedal switch operate the brake lights but it also sends a signal to the shift interlock system via the connection at the electronic flasher module, which is most probably why you can’t disengage park.

Do you need to operate the brake pedal to shift the gear lever out of park?

Here’s an image of the wiring for the 2004 Escape from the service manual.

Since none of the stop lights are working you may have to check out the wiring near the taillights as shown in the diagram as the right stop light should work even if the others don’t because the wire should go straight to there from the switch, as long as it gets through the breakout box of course

(click on image to enlarge for better viewing)

The 2001 model wiring is similar although it doesn’t show the wiring to the shift interlock coming from the brake pedal switch circuit so I don’t know why you can’t shift out of park if you have this year model

(click on image to enlarge for better viewing)

The 2006 model is different yet again as the high mounted stop light should work even if the others don’t if the wiring from the switch is OK and it can be seen that the brake pedal switch also signals the powertrain control module (PCM) presumably to release the shift interlock. The other stop lights are operated from a control module, not sure if it the ABS control module or the body control module as I didn’t look into it that far.

(click on image to enlarge for better viewing)

Here’s the 2001-2006 Ford Escape Repair Manual and Wiring Diagrams scroll down to Electrical and select the wiring diagram that suits to get more detailed wiring information.

Hopefully a start.