Mark, I wish I could say that I have found what you have written to be
true.  I just dealt with this issue with a customer with an 87 Vanagon
and he had the three prong switches.  I would check before I ordered
because it seems more random than a specific year cut off.  It takes
about 5 mins to remove the instrument cluster and look at the switches.
Unplug one of them and see if the lights go out.  The switch that you
can unplug and it makes the lights go out is the bad switch.  The
switches are wired in parallel so that one of them is redundant.  If you
were really in a bind you could unplug the one and just travel the rest
of your trip home with just the one plugged in.  I would replace both
since they are both the same age.  I have the switches available if you
need them

Ken Wilford
John 3:16
www.vanagain.com

On 10/17/2010 5:05 PM, mark drillock wrote:
> The 80-84 used 3 pin brake pressure switches
> The 85-91 used 2 pin pressure switches
>
> Mark
>
>
>
> John Rodgers wrote:
>> '91 Carat, auto tranny (maybe they all have them) - brake lights won't
>> go of - stuck "On". pulled the fuse to protect the circuit.
>>
>> Question: Does the Carat - particularly the '91 Carat - use a pair of
>> three connector brake light switches - or 2 connector brake light
>> switches.
>>
>>
>