Thanks for that.
The light on my car is on permanently. But your thoughts on whether or not my taillight is genuine made me think: is the voltage to the taillight meant to be there permanently and it is the taillight unit which is faulty. I might check to see what is happening on the other side. I was thinking that the fact that there was a permanent voltage was the fault.
I googled the FET:
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTORS (FET)
Many automotive manufacturers are now using virtual fuses also known as "Field Effect Transistors" to protect complex High Speed Controller Area Network (HS-CAN) and modules from high voltage spikes. The concept of a virtual fuse allows the Body Control Module (BCM) to monitor modules on the network for excessive current and turn OFF the VOLTAGE or GROUND and store Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC) in memory. When there is no longer a circuit fault or short, the BCM FET circuit will reset - and the module will be reactivated when the circuit is turned ON again . Once this occurs, the BCM begins a cumulative count of faults. FET's are built rugged and can withstand tremendous amounts of high current and voltage spikes.
Field Effect Transistors operate at 3 levels of protection that can handle anywhere from 100 to 600 faults based on predetermined limits set by the manufacturer. When a fault level of protection is reached, the BCM module will not allow the FET to reset or "CHECK ENGINE" or "MIL" to turn OFF until a self test of the circuit is passed. When all three levels of protection expires, the FET will no longer reset and the defective circuit must be repaired, and the module replaced.
Reference: Automotive Electricity and Electronics, David M. Jones and Kirk VanGelder, pps. 606-607, 2018..
The hole I am digging seems to be getting deeper!!
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