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.
All the instrument cluster lights continue to go out on my 04 Prius. I don't know how much fuel I have this could be a safety issue. I don't know how fast I'm going this could definitely be a safety issue. And zero warning lights come on this is definitely a safety issue. By looking on the internet I can tell thousands of priuses have this exact same issue with the instrument panel cluster going out. This should definitely be a recall.
My left headlight goes off but if I turn the headlights back off and back on it comes back on. The headlight is not burned out. This happens while on the freeway in the dark while raining. This happens intermittently and not all the time.
About 1.5 years ago during a vacation. My car decided to not shut off. I drove to the nearest dealership that was about the close. They assisted and said to hold the power button down until it shuts off then turn it back on. This was a dealership in Georgia. The mechanic had heard of the problem before. I recently had the front dash light go completely out. I did not have an instrument panel at all. The was not a way to see mph, gas gauge, warning lights, nothing. The center monitor stayed on. It took 2 days but it came back on. A week later it happened again and again came back on. Warning lights came on and I drove to dealership. It was the 2nd water pump going out. As I was leaving my dash lights went out again. I took it back into the Prius dealership. They had paperwork stating there had been issues with the metered dash before. Is there a recall on it or not? I had to have a car and was allowed to leave with the dash not working. I drove to a gas station. After filling with gas the dash lights came on again. I had to pay for the metered dash part to be ordered up front because the mechanic said it may come back on. There should be a recall on this as it is an ongoing issue. The mechanic even called it a short. Due tot he paperwork the desk representative had, it appears there have been several reports before on the metered dash shorting. Please help. I need the car and cannot afford these ridiculous prices for manufacturer mistakes.
My car head lights are turning off, at first it was one not turning on and then it was the other one, now they take turns. It is a safety issue which almost had make me crash more than 2 times. To the point that I am unable to use the car during the night. This happens if the car is parked or running.
- Loxahatchee, FL, USA
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3 days after buying my 04 Prius both of my low beams and one of my high beams went out. A few months after replacing them my driver side low beam went out, the high beam was fine. 2-3 months after re replacing the driver's side low beam the passenger side low beam went out. I have had to replace my headlights about 5 times each (10 times total driver+passenger side) I had my ground wires checked, I constantly check my fuses, mechanics say nothing is wrong with my lighting, but here I am with this reoccurring issue. I have been using the same kind of bulbs because I can't imagine spending more money on a bulb to have it blow out in a couple of months (xtravision 9003 12.8V,55/60W halogen). Apparently my reverse lights aren't working either, and one of my license plates lights is out (I think the plate light is probably not connected to the other lights going out) zi do think the reverse lights are a related problem though. My lights go out both in motion and stationary (I couldn't tell you if it happens on turns or not, but it can happen on highways), sometimes I can get them to come back on by giving a little smack, but usually a few days after that they officially burn out. I've researched this problem on Prius forums and apparently I am not the only Prius owner experiencing this with the same frequency, there are no recalls for this issue, yet so many of us are experiencing this, which is quite detrimental to ours and others safety. Sometimes I can't tell my lights have gone out til I get pulled over or am able to see my headlight reflection on another vehicle, even worse is when I'm wondering why I can't see anything when it's so dark out just to found out one of my headlights blew again. I still own this vehicle and still trying to figure out why this is a continuous problem.
Our 2004 Prius has intermittent problems with headlights and tail lights failing. One of both headlights will all of a sudden go out. Turning them off and on usually causes them to come back on. My son was driving on a curvy, dark forested road when both lights went out. Could not see a thing. This is an extremely dangerous situation. We have also replaced tail light bulbs. They work, then fail again quickly.
The passenger side headlight goes out while operating the vehicle. It begins to operate again after turning headlights off and on again. This happens multiple times during vehicle operation in a single drive. For example, three times today within 15 minutes. The headlight was replaced within the last 6 months, but we now believe it is a systemic issue, unrelated to the bulb assembly, because it has occurred with two bulbs in a row. This occurred both when the vehicle is in motion and when stationary (idling).
Over the past few months my headlights would randomly turn off while I'm driving. Sometimes it's one head light, other times it's both. Usually they turn back on if I turn them off then back on. The other day they turned off for about 20 seconds while I was driving 70mph down the interstate at 10pm. I saw my life flash before my eyes. They would not turn back on for 20 seconds approximately. Upon further research on a priuschat forum, I saw that lots of other people have had this issue. There was even a class action lawsuit against Toyota because they knew about the issue but did not recall. I'm a single parent and I depend on my car and my son needs his mom. Toyota needs to fix there error and recall the head lights.
Hello team, one of the headlights keeps going out. I can't really tell when or how it goes out since I can't see it. I'll notice it when I see the reflection in the back of another car. If I turn the bright lights on and off it has no effect, but when I turn them all the way off and back on the light comes back. Sometimes on long trips it will stay on the whole time, sometimes it won't. sometimes on short trips it will go out, sometimes it won't. it is not an event I can make happen.
Headlights would randomly go out completely and would very quickly have to turn them off and then back on to get them to work. This did not happen very often but they did occur unexpectedly and caused extremely unsafe conditions while driving.
Headlights would randomly go out completely and would very quickly have to turn them off and then back on to get them to work. This did not happen very often but they did occur unexpectedly and caused extremely unsafe conditions while driving. Additionally, the headlights would barely illuminate the road at night all the time while driving in all conditions and on all roads, and the area they illuminated was only a very short distance in front of the car so this also created unsafe conditions at all times. To compensate I would turn on the high beams and then the proper area of the road would be illuminated. This made me have to switch from low to high beam on a regular basis and was extremely distracting having to do so whenever an oncoming car approached! I recently paid about $350-375 to have them relamped and that helped but only a very small amount. This is still a big problem and makes me not want to drive this car at night!!!
Description of the problem: The H.I.D. headlights on my 2004 Prius fails unexpectedly (they turn off randomly, on their own). This problem affects mainly the right headlight. The right headlight fails very frequently (hundreds of times during the last 12 months). The left headlight fails sporadically (less than 10 times during the last 6 months). This issue affects both low beam and high beam headlamps simultaneously. When a headlight fails, I turn off the lights then I turn them back on. This brings back the lights. Then the failure occurs unexpectedly after seconds, minutes, or hours. This issue has occurred while my vehicle was stationary, in motion, on a city street or a highway, turning, braking, etc. This issue also occurs regardless of road conditions (smooth flat roads & speed bumps / potholes) or weather conditions (sunny, rainy, snowy, warm & cold outside temperatures). This is a major safety concern, especially when driving night time on completely unlit roads.
Right hid headlamp intermittently goes out while driving and does not go back on. However, when you switch the headlight toggle switch off then on again, right hid headlamp goes back on. While driving for a distance of 120 miles last night, this happened 6 times on both city and highway and road conditions ie. Bumps etc is not a factor since it happens on a smooth paved highway as well. The outage can occur a few minutes after turning the toggle headlamp switch on or it can stay on for 20 miles then out again. Since the car is never left idling with the headlamps on, it is unknown whether right headlamp will go out while parked. Have read in the Prius chat site that many other drivers have experienced similar problem and despite the dealer replacing the hid bulb or even the entire headlamp assembly which is over $1,100 the problems were never fully resolved. Please refer to: priuschat.com/threads/headlight-problem.34584/
Driver's side headlight was intermittent. I could jiggle the switch and it would come on. This occurred stationary and moving. I have replace the hid bulb twice with sylvania D2R. The headlight does not work now. Dealer will charge over $500 for headlight and ballast repairs--highway robbery. This problem started August 2014.
The left headlight has been going off while driving. I've got the 'safety' package #7 with special hid headlights. When I turn the lights off and on again, it comes back on for awhile. Two nights ago both headlights went out while driving. Very scary! I was on an on ramp and couldn't see at all. They both came back on after I turned the switch off and then on.
Headlights turn off when driving for about half an hour. I have to turn the headlights off then back on so they can start working again. I do see this to be a safety issue since I drive out of town often and use the freeway most of the time and it is just very hard for me to be turning on and off the headlights at a high speed. This has occurred several times and it's not safe at all. This happens at any speed usually within the first 30 minutes and it continuously turns off.
We've noticed this problem only a few times in the car since we've owned it. That's been about 3 years. We seldom drive at night but whenever we have it's always been an issue. Usually just the left goes out and resetting the lights brought it back on. This past week the same thing started to happen and resetting it worked a few times but then both headlights went out and resetting the switch did nothing. Thankfully dawn was on the way and with the fog lights on we just kept going. Once I felt comfortable turning the lights off completely and after waiting 3-5 minutes with the switch off I tried the lights and they came back on. There is definitely a problem with something; maybe an overheat issue with the bulbs, wiring or control box. This is a huge deal. If we'd been driving into the darkness instead of dawn could easily have had an accident.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Kuna, ID, USA