This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
At around 145,000 miles the right (passenger) headlight started turning off randomly. It would come back on while driving if I turned my headlights off and back on. Frequency has increased over the last 10,000 miles. Recently, the left headlight went out while on the freeway and the right was already out, leaving me with no headlights. I had to flick them on and off multiple times and flick the brights multiple times to get them to turn back on. I had no headlights for at least 30 seconds while on the highway- though in an urban area where other lights allowed me to see. Twice, I have been left without headlights while on the road- once on the highway and once at a stop light (turning my car off and then back on revived the lights).
Headlights intermittently flicker and shut off. If headlights are turned off then back on, both headlights will work again. Problem happens while vehicle is in motion, as well as when parked. This has happened several times while driving at night, on rural/poorly lit roads, as well as highways. Usually it is one light or the other that goes off, but about 5 different times both lights have gone off at the same time while driving at night. One of these incidents resulted in a traffic stop by a police officer, who promptly issued me a ticket for driving with no headlights on. Both headlight bulbs have been replaced; all fuses have been checked and/or replaced;12V battery replaced - none of which has solved the problem.
Driver side headlight intermittently turns off while driving. Driver is not aware headlight is not working until police pulls him over or after returning to garage at home, he can see from headlight glare on the wall that one light is out. Usually turning the light off, and then back on corrects the problem, however you cant be driving down the highway flashing your lights every once in a while to make sure they are on. It is just a dangerous situation. The internet shows this is a common problem and its frustrating that Toyota has not acknowledged or provided a fix.
I noticed that my passenger side headlight was out while driving home at night. Two days later, again while driving at night, my passenger side headlight was working perfectly. I have done nothing to repair the light.
Sometimes my left front headlight works and sometimes it doesn't. I have not been able to identify any consistent cause of the intermittent failure. Sometimes if the left headlight is out and I flick the high beams on and off, then the light works again, but this doesn't always seem to fix the problem.
- Springfield, PA, USA
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While driving at night, my headlights will turn off randomly. Sometimes, it is just one but often it is both. If I turn the headlights switch to off and back to on, sometimes one or both lights will turn back on. More recently, this trick hasn't been working as well and I have to drive just using my fog lights. It seems to be something with the computer that controls the headlights. If it was the bulb it would always be out. If it were the wiring, simply flipping the switch on/off wouldn't suddenly get the wiring to connect again.
Speedometer & other control information display went blank. Pulled over to side of road but unable to turn off engine. Contacted Toyota & was told problem is known & warranty extend to 9 years & unlimited miles. However, my vehicle is older than nine years, so I must pay estimate $1400 to fix & car will be unavailable for estimate 2 weeks. The vehicle is unsafe to drive, prior to this known problem occurring car was operating perfectly ( averaging 50 mpg per tank of gas, documented). This appears to be a safety problem that was known by the manufacturer, however they seems to be trying to hide this by making the statistical estimate that by extending the warranty the majority of these cars would be off the road and their lawyers & legal insurance would cost less than the few humans kills after this arbitrary 9 year risk period. I could have been killed as a result of this failure! fortunately I was not, however I am left with a vehicle that is undriveable (with no warning!) and can only be repaired by Toyota at a cost I am not able to afford!
The right headlight keeps going out and after we turn the switch back and forth it goes back on. This past weekend in a driving rain storm at night, the lights went completely out on a windy mountain road. I flicked them on and off several times and they would go on and then go out shortly afterwards. Neither dim or bright would work. I ended up having to pull the bright signal on the column back manually and hold it while driving the last 45 minutes to home. It was very dangerous for about 20 miles in the rain at night the lights going in and out on curves or against on coming traffic, a head-on could have occurred easily.
Both headlights spontaneously went out at the same time while driving. This has been an intermittent problem since that date, despite changing the bulbs. Sometimes the lights can be relit by turning the headlight switch off and back on. Sometimes this does not work. Particularly if the bright lights are on, the off-on switching does not work and the headlights remain off.
A driver in front of me told me about one week ago that my headlights were going on and off while I was driving. Then yesterday while stopped at a traffic light, another driver got out of his car to tell me that my lights had gone off. I hadn't noticed a change myself, but then I pulled into a parking lot and cut my lights all the way off and cut them back on and then the light was much brighter. This is not a consistent problem. Sometimes the lights stay on fine and then they go out randomly. There doesn't seem to be a pattern to when this is happening. But if I cut the lights off and then back on, the problem will fix temporarily. I have seen on several forms that many people with 2004-2006 priuses are having this problem.
Starting last year my passenger side headlight intermittently turns off and will turn back on once I turn lights off and on. Passenger side light continues to periodically shut off for no specific reason throughout the duration of the trip. This issue has caused numerous lighting safety issues as well as instances of being pulled over for headlight being out. After extensive research on internet I have discovered that this is a very common issue that Toyota has failed to address. I petition for the NHTSA to please look into the issue described above. I seek a favorable and just decision in regards to urging Toyota to do the right thing and address the popular defect in not only.2004 models but several other Prius model years. Toyota has previously issued a recall for 2006-2009 Toyota Prius'. this precedence indicates that Toyota is well aware of this problem and has neglected to take accountability and action in establishing a recall.
I purchased this vehicle in December 2012. Ever since I have had this Prius, I have had issues with the front drivers side headlight turning off randomly. Whenever I turn the car on, both headlights are always on, but while driving, the drivers side headlight turns off. I took it to carfix in garner, nc and they thought that it could be the headlight, so they recommended changing it. I ended up having it changed by a family friend because it was cheaper to do it that way. The headlight was still giving me problems after being changed, so I took it to the leith Toyota dealership in raleigh, nc and they said that the headlight that I purchased from autozone was not the correct type of headlight, so they changed it again. Even after they changed it, the headlight was still going on and off randomly. I took it back to the Toyota dealership today and they said that it sounds like some kind of wiring issue. I have done some research on the issue and have seen recalls for 2005-2009 Prius' for the same issues, but since mine is a 2004 it does not fall into the recall category. I believe that it should based on my issue compared to that as well as the number of other complaints on the internet and blogs that I have found.
While driving on the interstate at night, both headlights suddenly went out. Neither the high beams nor the low beams worked. I had to pull over, and turn the car off. When I turned the car back on, both headlights worked fine. This incident occurred about 4 weeks ago, and I took it to the dealership. The dealership could not find a cause, and I don't think that they believed me. I had no problems with the headlights for almost 4 weeks. Then 3 days ago, the exact same thing happened again. I was driving on the interstate at night and both headlights suddenly went out. Again, I pulled over. When I turned the car off and back on, they worked fine. This is extremely dangerous and frightening. I have called two dealerships and neither of them have heard of such a thing. However, in researching the internet, I easily find that this has been the subject of a class action lawsuit involving Prius model years 2006-2009. So there should be information out there that Toyota should be telling their dealers. I don't know if it's an electrical or computer problem.
Problem started with the right headlight turning off intermittently. I reported the problem to the local dealership on 8/27/2013 when the vehicle was serviced. The dealership indicated that they could not find a problem because the problem could not be duplicated. Then the same thing started happening with the left headlight. I can correct the problem by turning off & then back on the light switch but this correction does not last long and the problem recurs. I have resorted to driving with my fog lights also turned on in order to provide some semblance of light. It is difficult and dangerous to drive like this in the long alaskan winters with so much ice and snow on the roadways. I can also make this problem occur when warming up my car in the driveway.
Passenger headlamp goes out while car is being driven. Driver side headlamp remains on (illuminated). Turning headlamp switch off and on causes passenger and driver side headlamp to illuminate. On re-illumination, passenger side headlamp sometimes appears normal and at other times appears to be dimmer, more yellowish. Dealer quoted replacement hid bulb and labor to replace will cost $225 total.
Same intermittent headlight problem posted here hundreds of times. Why is Toyota only fixing 2006+ model years? the same problem plagues all model years.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Denver, CO, USA