If you have woken up in the morning to find your car battery dead – even though all of your doors were closed, your lights (including interior lights) were off, and nothing was plugged into your vehicle drawing power – you are not alone.
A lot of responsible vehicle owners have come out to start their car in the morning only to discover that it was completely dead, sometimes with their hazard lights only faintly flashing.
Troubleshooting this problem is critically important, though.
If left ignored you’re only going to keep having to deal with your hazard lights killing your battery, constantly recharging or jumping your battery, and dealing with a ton of headache and hassle.
Armed with the inside information below, though, fixing this shouldn’t be much of a problem.
Best of all, it shouldn’t cost you an arm and a leg, either.
Let’s get into it.
Why Are My Hazard Lights Blinking When Car is Off?
If your hazard lights are blinking even after your vehicle has been turned off it (usually) means that they are fully engaged and are locked into position.
Sometimes this is a relatively simple problem to resolve. Maybe all you have to do is jiggle the hazard lights button inside of your vehicle to get it to reset itself.
Sometimes, though, the issue is a little more troublesome than that – sometimes it’s a more serious electrical problem that needs a bit more tinkering with to resolve.
Stuck Hazard Button
The very first thing you have to look for when your hazard lights stay on even after your vehicle has been turned off is that the button itself isn’t physically stuck in the “on” position.
A lot of car owners are surprised to discover that their hazard button sticks the first time that they use it, in large part because the button doesn’t get a whole lot of use in the first place.
If the button sticks in the on position without you noticing it (especially if you already hit the button to turn it off) you may need to physically wiggle, jiggle, or otherwise play with the button until it actually releases.
Hopefully this is the problem that you are dealing with right now, a problem that can be resolved in just a few seconds and one that definitely doesn’t require you having to go to a full-blown mechanic.
Potential Corrosion Issue on Electrical Components
If you have checked the physical button for your hazard lights and that isn’t the reason that they are still on, it might be time to look at the actual electrical components themselves.
A lot of parts (specifically metal parts attached to your electrical system) in the engine bay can become corroded over time. This is especially common in colder weather areas that see a lot of salt on the roads to get rid of ice and snow.
Corrosion (minor corrosion, anyway) isn’t all that uncommon and usually won’t cause many serious problems. A lot of caked on corrosion, though, is going to impede the electrical signals and cause your electrical systems to go “on the fritz”.
Don’t be surprised if corrosion on your electrical components are the root cause issue for your hazard lights never turning off, turning themselves on all on their own, or generally giving you a bunch of other headaches.
The easy fix here is to simply disconnect your battery so that live electricity isn’t running through the car and then clean that corrosion off manually.
It might require a little bit of elbow grease (and possibly some purpose made cleaning agents) but you’ll be able to get things back to better than brand-new condition in no time at all.
Shorted Turn Signal Switch
A shorted turn signal switch or a hazard light relay switch is another common culprit when hazard lights seem to stay on indefinitely.
There is a tiny little relay that lets your lights flash based off of the flow of electricity, and the resistor inside of that relay helps them flash steadily – giving the hazard lights the blinking look.
If the relay itself becomes compromised the lights are usually going to flash either very quickly, very slowly, or stay on indefinitely. They might even stay solid on overnight. That’s going to wear your battery down in a hurry!
When you’re dealing with this kind of situation, though, you need to have a professional mechanic look at everything for you. These experts will be able to properly diagnose the issue, resolve it in a hurry, and replace a (relatively) affordable relay to get you back up and running.
Is Your Glovebox Open or Loose?
Oddly enough, sometimes the root cause problem behind your hazard like problem has nothing to do with your lights at all but instead the connection in your glovebox!
There is a relay inside of your glovebox designed to turn the light on every time it is opened and then turn the light off every time it gets closed.
Sometimes this relay can be faulty as well, not only causing problems with the glovebox interior light but also causing problems with anything else connected to that same wiring system.
Certain automobile manufacturers tie glovebox lights into the hazard lights, and if the glovebox is loose or open your hazards may not be getting the command to turn off when your vehicle is.
It’s worth having a look at your glovebox to make sure it’s closed securely to eliminate this as a possibility.
Issues with Your Anti-Theft System
Antitheft systems can also make your hazard lights a little screwy, particularly when you’re talking about aftermarket options and not OEM setups.
If you are having hazard light issues after an aftermarket antitheft system has been implemented you’re going to want to go to the shop that installed things to see if they crossed wires somewhere on the line.
The chances are pretty good they’ll be able to track back their work, find the trouble spot, and eliminate the problem for you without too much headache – and generally without asking for any extra money, either.