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.
I own a 2005 Toyota Prius, and the headlights have both gone out. They are supposed to last 10 years. For a while, when I turned off the headlights and turned them back on, they would work. However, they do go out when I am on the road quite often. I have been quoted by the dealership that replacing a single lightbulb will cost over $400 including parts and labor. This is a safety issue because I drive to work in the early in the morning and late at night, and my headlights do not function reliably. I have heard this complaint from other Prius owners, who are otherwise happy with their vehicles. For a lightbulb that is supposed to last 10 years, this is definitely a faulty and dangerous part issue.
Headlight on 2005 Prius intermittently fails. Sporadic, but sometimes recurs every few minutes. Turning the lights off and on quickly corrects problem essentially 100% of the time. Estimate to replace bulb exceeded $400, and no guarantee the problem would be corrected. Online searches shows this is not an isolated problem. Others describe both lights going out simultaneously, an obvious hazard.
Hid headlights fail intermittently. They either fail to light up or go out while driving. Sometimes they operate normally, other times they fail. No pattern to it -- it seems random. Dealer said Toyota is aware of the problem but has no fix. They advised me to simply turn switch off, then on again until they light up. This does not always work.
I have a 2005 Prius I purchased in 10-2004. My problem is the same as the 338 plus previously reported problems with the hid headlights going out. The passenger light started going out at around 50,000 miles. It was at the time easily corrected by turning the headlights off and on again. When driving in town it is sometimes hard to tell if the headlight has gone out without leaning forward or watching for the headlights reflecting off a car in front of me. This has been mostly annoying until the driver's side headlight started doing the same thing. Now it is dangerous. I do not feel safe driving my car at night because at any time not knowing the right light is out the driver side light will go out and I am driving with no headlights. The first time this occurred was returning from a long trip, driving 65 mph, 12:30 am. All of a sudden I had no headlights. Luckily this had not occurred 40 miles earlier in my travels. I would have been driving on interstate, 65 mph through two way road construction, perhaps around a curve. I had three teenage passengers with me. It could have been disastrous. At times it now takes two or three attempts to get the headlights back on. The cost to repair, per my local Toyota dealer is $300 each for the part that controls the headlight. This does not include replacement cost.
Headlights on 2005 Prius go out. I have replaced them twice and they intermittently go out still. Too much moisture in the air they go out. Sometimes they will come back on if I turn them on and off. The drivers side headlight goes out and stays out for weeks.
- Carlsbad, CA, USA
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Toyota Prius hid headlights blink off and on. Sometimes stay off until switched off, and back on. Repair cost including labor, bulb and new hid driver "chip" excessive at $1,200 per side. Driving with unreliable headlights is dangerous.
Like so many other complaints I've read today, I am experiencing problems with one of the headlights turning off intermittently, without reason (it happens when just sitting idle). When the light goes off, I flip the headlight switch off and on, and it comes back on. It will then remain on for a while (could be 30 minutes, or it could be 2 minutes). I was told that this is unlikely to be the hid bulb or ballast. I have read many complaints on different forums. This is a serious safety concern, and Toyota should find the cause, and recall for repairs.
05prius: After reading the list of complaints I feel compelled to inform everyone of the problems I have had. Otherwise I love my Prius. Headlight leveling system fix-warranty, warning on dash, steering problem-recall, gas tank replaced-due to overfill broke bladder-warranty, cd-stereo replaced due to intermittent unresponsiveness-warranty, on my 3rd set of tires-originals lasted 21K, have 60K on odometer. Fyi for all 05 owners. I bought new and take it to dealer for all repairs, except oil changes.
On my 2005 Toyota Prius, the passenger side headlight started turning pink when I turned on the lights. Now it doesn't turn pink anymore but is quite dim -- about 30 percent of the brightness of the other headlight. My Toyota dealership said to bring it in for repair but it would cost at least $400-$500.
Both hid headlights will turn off without notice while driving. Turning lights off and back on will generally get these to go back on but that is dangerous. Also, hid leveling system fails intermittently causing headlights to change position drastically.
-the contact owns a 2005 Toyota pruis. The contact stated that the tail and headlights intermittently fail. A reduction of visibility due to head-lamp failure increases the risk of vehicle crash. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, but the technicians were unable to identify the cause of the failure. The manufacturer was notified. The failure and current mileages were 189,000.
While driving our vehicle (2005 Toyota Prius) the driver's side headlight just goes off without notice. Unable to repair due to it costing approx $800 to replace bulb. Tonight the passenger side headlight also went out. It will go back on if we turn off the headlights then turn them back on. We live outside of city limits. Imagine driving in the dark and your headlights go out.
We have a 2005 Prius. The passenger side headlight started to flicker about a month ago. Finally failed completely. Estimate for replacing both bulbs $105 labor $376 for each bulb. Total of $850. This is crazy and unsafe. I am forced to drive around with one headlight out, waiting for the other to fail, because I don't have $850. The car only has 53,000 miles on it. This is just wrong. Toyota needs to do something to fix this problem.
The hid headlamps in my 2005 Prius are pointing downward. I've read online of other complaints and an investigation and wanted to add my instance of the issue as well.
Events leading to failure: Ordinary driving. The failure: Right headlight stops working. Frequency: Hard to tell since I can't see the headlights while driving. Can only get indirect evidence such as light reflecting from the car in front of me-if it is close. When I first noticed this, about a year ago, it was infrequent. The frequency has increased as far as I can tell to the point that I believe it is daily now, although still not constant. No consequences so far, but potential for wrecks at night is obvious, and driving without headlights is a crime, I think-certainly unwise. Over the last year I have taken the car into the dealer twice when I thought the headlight was malfunctioning, but when I got to the dealer, it was on. Today when I took it in, it was malfunctioning. At the dealership over the last year, I have been quoted repair prices by the dealer, from $600 to $1700 (for both lights), the latter being recommended. The request for incident date below is inappropriate since there have been hundreds of incident dates. I am completing it since the form will not allow me to continue if I don't select a single date. The selection of one date below is not a waiver of the many other dates.
About 3 months ago my headlights on my 2005 Prius started to go out then come back on. At first I assumed it was a headlight that needed to be replaced but when I was going to buy the headlights I was told if it was a dead headlight...it would never come back on. My warranty was about to expire. I took it into the dealer in Wisconsin and they said they had fixed it. However I could see up against the wall that it was not. I told them I would not leave till they fixed it. They gave me back the car and the headlights worked for a few days then started the on off thing again. Problem is you are not sure when it happens...if the road is lit at all it's harder to tell. But I when I had to make a trip out East there were roads with no light so all that was seen was the parking lights. I thought I was going blind. I have heard from others that this has happened to many and I will be joining a class action law-suit. This is life threatening and Toyota knows very well about it and all the dealers are just pretending not to. There must be a recall right away!!!! to add insult to injury, now the air conditioning heating is all messed up and my windows fog up and I can't get them to clear. It's a mess!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Louisville, KY, USA