break light turns on during hard breaks.

As brake pads wear, the volume of brake fluid needed to press the pads against the rotors increases. Some brake fluid is temporarily withdrawn from the reservoirs of your master cylinder during braking, and it returns to the apparently correct level in the reservoirs when you let off the brakes, due to the action of springs at the brake actuators (an internal spring-like mechanism in the case of the calipers used with disc brakes).

Usually it will take more movement of the brake pedal to achieve braking when this happens, too.

So the illumination of the brake light in your circumstance is a sign that the brake pads are nearing the end of their useful life and will need to be replaced soon, even if you don't hear a suspicious sound.

If you don't replace the brake pads before the end of their useful life, you'll damage the brake rotors. They'll usually get a bit noisy before that happens.

Each car has a specification for minimum brake pad thickness. If you take off the wheels and inspect the pads, you can look at them and see if they are in need of replacement.

So it doesn't take a brake fluid leak for this light to come on. And I've never heard of a case where brake fluid leaked slowly; when it leaks, it usually happens suddenly, as, for example, when the wheel cylinder of a drum brake fails.

Hi Hamill,

Thanks for the valuable information. I will bring my car to a mechanic as soon as I have time for it.

Thanks for your time again,

Tevfik

I would not argue with having your brakes checked, but I have an '89 Camry that has the brake warning light come on occasionally over the past year and the fluid is always a little low. The fluid "sloshes" a little bit when you brake and apparently triggers the low fluid sensor. ( Yeah, I need to check my brakes. ) Happy trails.