I used to have the same problem - the reason the problem was fixed is that i dont have the car anymore.

I had it looked by a mechanic and its not that they are frozen, the contacts there may be a bit off and thus no electricity reaches that part of the car to make it work

my problem was actually the light would not turn on in my nissan almera when outside would be dark, i couldnt see the dashboard at all 

To fix it, he said it would require unhooking the entire dashboard,and replacing some stuff. which would cost a couple of thousand shekels