I just wanted to share a recent experience I had with a customer car in which the reverse lights were always on.

Full vehicle details: 2010 Equinox LT, 2.4, 6T45 trans, AWD

They would come on with the key whether it was in accessory or run, engine running or not, and regardless of the gear shifter position.

How the circuit works:

There is no direct fused circuit powering the reverse lamps - they are commanded on and off by the BCM based on data received from the ECM & TCM. The BCM relies on power from fuse BCM 3 or BCM 6 (label depends on build date) in the instrument panel fuse block (right side of center console) to power the reverse lamps once they’re commanded on. It’s a 15 amp fuse that’s hot at all times.

What I ended up finding is there was a short in the backup camera that was causing the lamps to stay on.

I’ll spare all the details (unless someone asks for them) and just say that I removed the lift gate trim panel and, starting with the primary connector for the lift gate, unplugged components one at a time until I found the camera was the source.

I don’t know what exactly caused the short, but once the camera was replaced, the lamps worked normally.