2016 Countryman All4S with Vland taillights. I have had this issue a few times but I thought I solved it for good...but nope. The first set of Vland tails I had, the brake lights stopped working after a few months, everything else on them worked fine but I figured the LEDs gave up the ghost, so I replaced them. A few months later, I had the same issue with the new set. I learned that the connector may be the issue so I pulled it apart and cleaned then up and then plugged it back in. They started working again, but few months later I was pulled over for no brake lights...I thought that if I bypassed the connector and did a direct wire method, there wouldnt be any building of corrosion...well its been over 6 months and now the brake lights arent working again - BUT, if I have the drl lights on, the brake lights work.
Would this be the FRM doing funny things? I just had the FRM checked not long ago and it was deemed perfectly fine.
Would using ODB11 and disabling the "bulb check" fix this issue? Im considering putting a toggle switch between then wires to disable/reenable them quickly if this does "reset" the problem.

 

Issue seems to be fixed after unhooking leads from battery