LED Brake Light $350 repair

Had the exact same issue on a german made car, except the replacement was $500 for the unit, without any labor.
Ridiculous if you ask me.

 

I've read over this thread and can understand the frustrations by people. My girlfriend's 2005 Prius has the same problem with one of the LEDs failing, causing the whole array to go dim or not work. Instead of spending $100-300 to change out the whole assembly, I've decided to disconnect power to the LED array and just use a double contact bulb (2 in 1 brake and tail bulb) and solder on the connectors to make it work. The Prius is supposed to make your life simpler, not more expensive or difficult. There's nothing wrong with having the brake lights simply being reflected through the tail lights. Many cars have it set up this way.

 

That is exactly what I did. No more issues.

 

Apologies if this is something really simple, but I've never really done much with cars. I'm experiencing the same LED Brake Lights OUT problem. Would you be able to explain how to do this method? What kind of bulb would need to be purchased to do this?