Odd cargo light behaviour

[myfirstyota]

So heres the story, I came out to my car this morning to find the Trunk/cargo light on. ('07 base hatchback) At first I thought I didn't fully close the hatch the night before. However when I went to load my workboots and gear in the back I realized the hatch was fully closed and seated properly. I tried to open and close the hatch and even got a bit rough, hoping it would free up a switch. No go. Light was lit the whole way to work.

Now I'll add I have swapped the incandescent bulb to a led strip that's glued to the c-pillar. This has worked perfectly for about 3 months. I spliced into the existing cargo lamp harness and removed the incandescent bulb from its socket.

Now for the odd bits, the door ajar indicator lamp in the instrument cluster could either be lit or not depending how it feels. The cargo lamp (led strip spliced into OEM cargo lamp wires) goes off instantly when the brakes are applied. The dome light is working properly (same fuse). When I pull the under hood fuse, the LEDs slowly fade to off. When I disconnected the latch from the hatch the LEDs stayed on (not sure if that's normal). When I close the hatch they dim slightly. When the hatch is open, they are at full brightness (makes me think the hatch latch switch is working). Also with the dome light fuse removed the door ajar lamp seems to function properly.

After reading some posts here, I've removed the latch and cleaned it with parts cleaner (thinking maybe moisture or dirt got In there) this was also a no go. All bolts are tight, and there's no weather stripping issues (also mentioned in other threads)


So basically I'm asking wtf? Lol

Thanks for any input!