Brake Light Switch problems of the 1998 Chevrolet Lumina

This problem exists bwhen the vehicle is sationary and in transit. It appears to be intermitten as well. My brake lights work when I am braking, but they seem to intermittenly be failing when I use my directional switch (4 way). I have been advised on 3 occassions, twice by sheriff's deputies that my brake lights are not working. But they do work except when the directionals are on. After some research we have discovered that replacing the 4 way switch will resolve the problem. May I note that I have never had this device fail in any of my vehicles ever. That regardless of the ges and makes of my vehiclces the manufacturers have had the good sense to make certain the 4 way switch was reliable. Might I add linking braking with the switch might be consider irresponsible of the engineers. Has the 1998 chevy Lumina 4way switch been recalled!?.

We bought the car used. At time of purchase brake lights appeared to work. Same evening, the two rear/side brake lights did not work (the third/middle light works). We did some trouble shooting, replaced bulbs, checked for shorts. In our research we found that this is in fact a common problem among gm sedans and is caused by failure of the multifunction switch in the steering column. The switch contacts commonly fail when the switch begins to loosen/disintigrate. This causes a variety of issues among the systems that pass through that switch. Brake light failure is one such issue, and obviously a safety issues. Yes, I know it's an old car and yes I expect to have to make repairs to it, but I do not expect our student driver to suddenly be without brake lights because of the faulty manufacture of this component. A small amount of research makes it apparent that this is a very common, very widespread problem. It's expensive to fix and beyond most people's diy abilities, besides which I would not be comfortable working with anything that affects the airbag system. There is absolutely no way gm hasn't been aware of this issue. I can't understand why there's no recall for this issue.