AZ

Upon turning the car and idling, there are no lights on the dash.

After driving for about a minute, the BRAKE, VSA, and triangular exclamation lights come on and never go off.

There aren't any mechanical problems nor are there sounds that manifest from these indicators but I'm still worried.

Should I disconnect and reconnect the batt?

 

sounds like a brake switch failure

 

Here is more info for diagnosis..

When I hit the brakes hard, the emergency BRAKE light turns off, then when I let off, it comes back on....

This is frustrating

 

You mean the 3rd brake light? If so then it's 100% a brake light switch located right next to the brake pedal. Your going to get 2x codes a low battery voltage and a brake switch failure. After replacing the switch you will need to do a brake pedal position relearn.

 

Not the 3rd brake light, the 'BRAKE' light on the gauges when the E-brake is up.
That turns off if I brake really hard, but during normal driving it stays on, along with the VSA and triangular exclamation warning light...

 

Ahh, well that changes everything.. Sounds to me like a bad speed sensor.

 

Can anyone else chime in?

 

Yeah I had a wheel speed sensor go bad and it had similar issues

 

Take it to your local dealer let them scan the system and see what is going on. Even if it's a wheel speed sensor and it's up front good luck removing them.. They freeze in the hub in which you have to pull out your axle and either drill or use a special punch to hit them out. Then the hole they sit in has to be completely cleaned of rust other wise the new sensor doesn't fit.
Mismatched wheels will throw the system off and cause the light to come on, but not in this case with a brake light on as well. Silly as it sounds check your brake fluid it may be low, if it's not low the sensor inside the brake master cylinder reservoir. You may have 2 issuses here, one for the brake fluid sensor and another for a wheel speed sensor. Both pretty common.

 

I had a similar situation with the dash lights and it turned out to be a bad alternator.

 

Had the same issue. I kept riding it hard, eventually you will smell the alternator taking a shit. If you smell that then you will have about 2 miles left before the car just stops.

make sure you go with OEM alternator. some douche bags while i was in afgan put a universal one in, and it fudged EVERYTHING up.