I have a 2000 I30. A little over 1 year ago I could not engage my cruise control. I posted on this forum and DennisMik was instrumental in diagnosing the problem, which was that the rubber-stopper (46584-5P010) disintegrated over time. He also provided excellent instructions on how to replace the part.

Fast forward to last week. I came out to start my car, only to find out the battery was dead. I called AAA who came out to jump the battery. When they did, immediately the rear break lights came on and then I noticed a broken rubber-stopper on the drivers side floor. Because of my experience with the cruise control, I immediately knew what happened. The rubber-stopper on the brake switch disintegrated.

I went to the local Nissan dealer and purchased a rubber-stopper (same part number). I followed a variation of what DennisMik posted, which was:

It is best to start your car and move your seat all the way back and get your head under the dashboard. Being my battery was dead and I did not have a portable battery jumper like AAA (because of the location of my car I could not get it jumped from another car), I could not move the seat back to gain maximum room.

In my case I needed two people. One person presses on the brake pedal, which of course is more difficult when the car is not running (dead battery). As the brake pedal is fully pressed to the floor, the other person slides the rubber-stopper into the narrow space between the brake light switch and the hole on the pedal assembly. Make sure the nip of the stopper is facing the hole on the pedal assembly. There's no need to try to press the nip into the hole because the rubber-stopper is going to slip off your fingers. Just hold the stopper in place with one hand and slowly release the brake peddle. The nip of the stopper will just snap right in to the hole. There is no need to remove the switch. I called AAA back, they jumped the car and I was off. Being the battery is 4 years old, I was fortunate that it charged up.

From one point of view replacing the rubber-stopper on the brake switch was easier than the cruise control. That point of view is the experience of replacing the one on the cruise control a little over 1 year ago. However, from another point of view it was a bit more difficult. Because of the orientation of the brake switch behind the steering column, we were working blind. Also, being right-handed made it more difficult.

Please understand I know absolutely nothing about cars, including changing my oil! That said, because of the experience with the cruise control rubber-stopper combined with a little patience, it took two us all of about 10 minutes.

As this seems to be a common problem with 5th generation Maxima's and my 2000 I30 is just about the same car, I made this post to help the next person.

Anovice

 

I know this post is 10 years old but it sure helped me except mine started with the brake lights coming on one morning even though the car was off. Freaky! I found bits of black plastic on the floor and knew exactly what it was and what to do. I ordered a few of those stoppers from Amazon. I replaced the brake stopper similar to the instructions in your post.

I tried to proactively replace the stopper on the cruise switch but the little black part won’t come out. I waited a month later and I found bits of black plastic on the floor again. I knew exactly what it is…the cruise switch stopper finally crumbled after 23 years (2003 I35 with 200k miles). Time to order some stoppers for $4 and spend a few minutes and fix this little problem.

knowledge = power 👊

Thanks for posting.

 

i use a penny and a bit of jb weld as i have both on hand and dont have to wait for amazon.

done 6 vehicles now over the past 10 years with not a single failure of the epoxy.

 

the gas pedal also has one, it's green but the black ones fit the same.. when it comes off your engine will start and idle but won't repsond when you touch the pedal

 

That is good to know. Thanks. If I see bits of green plastic on my car floor, then I know what to do.