98 4runner brake light problems

[1973Guppie]

Hi,

spend most of my time over in the fj40 section, but also own a 98 4runner and am trying to figure some electrical stuff out so hopefully someone can help and point me in the right direction.

A few months back I noticed that several problems arose at the same time:
- no brake lights when pushing on the brake pedal
- In order to drive the car, I have to push the little white tab next to the automatic shifter, this tab is below a little black plate and allows you to shift the truck out of park.
- cruise control does not work, when trying to turn it on, it will not stay on.

All of this leads me to believe that I am having a malfunction with something on the brakes, like a brake light switch or ? It would seem to make logical sense that all of the above items would need a signal from the brakes to engage or disengage. Example, the shifter, it must need to know that you have your foot on the brake in order to let you disengage the shifter from the parking slot. Also, with the cruise control, it would need a brake signal to turn it off when it is engaged.

So, wondering where I should be looking for problems, is there a switch or ? as mentioned above? Appreciate the help, any opinions appreciated, I will start looking in my manual but thought I would try mud as well.

Noah

[Loki]

switch is on the brake pedal up under the dash. should fix the problem.