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.
Hid headlights turn off without warning while driving. Then if you turn them off and turn them on again, they'll come on again (sometimes dimly) and then turn off. Sometimes the left one goes out. Sometimes the right one goes out. Sometimes both go out.
When I shipped my car over to italy for my permanent change of duty station, my neighbor notice that one of my headlight is off and the other is still on so he thought I have a bad headlight. I check it by turning it off and then turning it on again. It turn on. But a few week later while I was driving home from work my headlight suddenly went off while I was in the middle of the highway. I was driving in the dark. I turned the light off and turned it back on again and it turned on. After that it turn off more often as time goes on. About July, 2011 I did some searching online and it appear to be a known problem for most Toyota Prius owner that have hid headlight. The headlight is expensive to replaced. My car was still under warranty, so I tried to contact the Toyota dealer to set up some type of arrangement so that I can get it fix over here. My Toyota dealer did not reply about the issue. I also contact the Toyota main company online but they told me that they cannot do anything for me. They refuse to send me a new part or provide me with any reimbursement due to the fact that the car was 5 years old. My headlight was defected before their 5 years 50K warranty end.
Left headlight started just going off completely at nite, now both are going off while driving. Checking online, it seems that many other Toyota owners have had same problem, and one of the vendors of headlights for Toyota manufactured defective headlights. Thus not all Toyota have the prob, just the ones with this vendor's headlights. But it still shows many do have the bad headlights. Toyota is not standing behind this issue and repairing the defective ones as they should. It is a very expensive...almost 2000 dollars to replace the computer controllers and headlights.
Left front headlight went out then 4 months later the right front headlight went out. I can make them work again by toggling the on/off switch. There has been many times that both lights went out at the same time. I looked at the bulbs and they are fine its the light module that is defective and needs to be replaced which is about 600 plus for both. Kind of find this hard to get fixed so I have been dealing with this light issue for some time now. They should just take responsibility for a poorly designed module and replace them! since they did not stand by there product I went out and bought a Ford edge instead of a Toyota highlander.
Recently purchased vehicle approximately 4 months ago. Headlights suddenly go out while driving, are unpredictable and at times will not stay on. They may work for days and then suddenly will start going out. One headlight, both headlights, hi beams, lo beams, no pattern to what goes out or works when problem starts to occur. Each time headlights are turned off and back on the result of what is working or not working is different. At times turning on high beams results in all lights going out at the same time. Presents a dangerous situation making it unsafe to be caught away from home with the car at dusk. My 19 year old son spent his hard earned money to buy this Toyota for transportation while away from home at college. Toyota is unwilling to accept responsibility for costly repairs in a hit and miss game of lets throw money at the problem replacing parts trying to resolve it until they "fix it". I have no comfort that the problem is ever fixed regardless of how much money is spent since the problem is intermittent and may not be seen for weeks at a time. How can Toyota get away with not addressing this safety hazard?
- Easton, PA, USA
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The hid headlights on my 2007 Toyota Prius go off without warning - it was once the driver's side, and yesterday it was the passenger side - but they comeback next time I turn them on -
My 2007 Toyota Prius hid left/right lights goes off intermittently when driving!! sometimes both of them go out at the same time, it is so dangerous. I contacted the Toyota dealer and they want $300 to replace head lamps, but do not guarantee that it will fix the issue. Last night I was stopped by police because my driver side head lamps was out, but I had turn off, then on the lights, and it was back on. I believed this is a well known issue with the Toyota Prius and Toyota should do the right thing and fixed it. I hope that Toyota does not wait for a major accident to do the right thing.
While driving, the car's headlights suddenly turn off whether it be the right or left light. The only way to make the light turn on again is to flip your headlights off then on again. And even then, the lights would seem to do the same thing but in shorter intervals of time. I happened to receive a ticket for "driving without headlights" when in fact they just turned off without my knowledge. I have brought my car into Toyota with this being a popular manufacturing defect amongst other 2006-07 Prius models, but to my surprise, the cost for bulb repair would be approximately $660. Even after such payment was given and repairs were performed, that would not fully guarantee a full fix on the problem.
Headlights (left, right and/or both) intermittently go off and on while driving. This has happened before and Toyota replaced the bulbs (I think) as a defect. Several blogs report this problem. It is dangerous and could result in an accident at worst and a ticket at best. Toyota should recall and correct the problem permanently and not require owners to pay for what is an obvious design defect.
I was issued a warning ticket for having one headlight out. When I tried to investigate the failed headlight, I could not replicate the problem... every time I looked at my headlights they were both on and fully functional. One week later I was driving in the desert on a road with no street lights and both headlights went out while I was driving over 45 mph while heading into a curve. Fortunately I was able to keep the car under control and arrive safely at a stop, as it was pitch black outside. I was able to turn the lights off and back on to restore lighting, but it happened again 5 minutes later. Weather condition was mid-70's and a clear dry night. When I brought the car to the dealership they said they saw one headlight going bad after leaving the lights on for ten minutes, but wouldn't deal with the other headlight or investigate any problem that may have led to the incident. They insisted that there was no problem and that the only way they could test it is if I purchased and paid for installation of 2 new hid lamps... over $800. They said Toyota's official position was to not take responsibility for it and that both lamps must be replaced. They would not answer any questions pertaining to testing the ballast, nor would they address why both headlights failed within less than a week of one another. Ultimately, the dealer's solution was to tell me to just turn my lights on and off real quickly.
Drivers side headlight and passenger side headlight will go out randomly at anytime but so far both haven't gone out at once... have been stopped by the police numerous times for this. When I turn the headlights off and back on again then they come back on. This has happened in the winter and again this summer. Something needs to be done about this problem as it is very annoying and dangerous especially at night.
This is a well publicized problem. This problem now occurs multiple times every day> I took possession of this vehicle in March, 2011 at about 40,000 miles. It is not possible for me to verify that the problem was or was not occurring from the first day I had the vehicle.. I first noticed the random and variable headlight failure about four months ago... it occurs on a regular basis now.... and is temporarily "fixed" by cycling the headlight switch.... it is not always the same headlight that fails, which should tell you it is not the bulb... which so many dealers are happily charging to replace. My vehicle now has over 84000 miles on it and the problem persists.... so whoever decided that 50,000 miles is a reasonable cut-off for Toyota's responsibility for the problem.... I don't know what they were thinking... thousands of cars do not fail over 5 model years starting at as low as 20,000 miles from "normal wear and tear aging and failure".... this is a serious and inexcusable design flaw which should have been added to the long list of recalls which today's Toyota is coming to be known for.... they resisted a recall because even people who have spent almost $2,000 for the dealer to fix this issue have reported that it recurs after the so-called "fix". Toyota must know that there is no easy fix, and is not willing to take the hit for correcting their defective design. I guess it will take several wrongful deaths due to headlight failure before this issue can be raised to a new level of intervention.... the class action lawsuit was an exercise in moronic irresponsibility... mostly by the courts for allowing such a pitiful and ineffective ruling. One more exhibit to demonstrate that corporations run the world today.... not governments..... pathetic......
When driving I noticed my headlight turned off for no apparent reason. I turned the head light switch off and back on again and about 20 mins later my left head light turned off. By turning my headlight switch off and on again will fix the problem but only for a short while. I have had this problem before and took my car to the Toyota dealership where I bought the car. They replaced the headlight, one on 12/16/2008 and the opposite headlight on 6/13/2009. Now the problem has started all over again. Back in 2008 I logged my complaint here about the headlights and just wanted to let all the Prius owners that it may happen again.
My 2007 Toyota Prius headlights keep burning out at random and much faster than any headlight should, and have also done so while I'm driving. My first headlight burned out on the passenger side last October, which to me seemed normal, the car was then 5 years old. I bought and replaced the headlight the next day. Since October 2011 to present day (9 months) I have now had to replace both passenger side and driver side headlights 7 times combined. I have tried numerous different brands of lights, and also had a dealership check out my wiring to be sure there were no shorts or anything wrong with the setup, and they concluded there was none. The lights go out at completely random intervals, on 2 occasions the light went out while I was driving. As both passenger and driver side lights are going out this is a clear safety issue because while they have not yet gone out simultaneously, the timings are so often and random that I fear they will both go out before I am able to replace the one that is out. As I have used every brand of light that is available, and had a Toyota dealer confirm there is nothing wrong with how I installed the lights or the wiring, its very clear there is some kind of issue with the Prius lighting system itself causing the lights to go out.
Suffering from the commonly reported hid headlight intermittent outages. It is outrageous that the cost of replacing a single headlight is over $400 at the local Toyota dealer. The vehicle age does not exceed the normal mtbf for the bulb. I have already replaced the left headlight and now the right one has gone out. I replaced 1 headlight in 45 years of driving before I bought this Prius. Now 2 headights go out. This is a design defect. And can go out while driving. The failure mode is intermittent before total failure.
Lighting: 1) headlights: This is the date of the first time failure of my high-intensity headlights. Driving up a remote curvy mountain road one headlight, my drivers headlight, failed as I was negotiating a hairpin corner and I almost cra shed as I instinctively took my hand off the wheel to turn on and off my lights. The defective light turned back on using this method. Now, both headlights are failing, sometimes both at the same time. I use the same method to restart them, only now, they are nolonger functional so I cannot drive at night, or on roads during the day that require headlights on. Dealer would not warranty them at first failure because I was 300 miles over warranty period. 2) taillights: Have had to replace both as they burned out prior to 36,000 miles. 3) front running lights: Also from about 30,000 miles on, I have replaced them each, 5 times as they burned out. Now the fuse blows anytime I install a new front running light.
Either one of the two headlights will randomly turn off while driving. They will sometimes come back on by themselves, or I can reset them by switching the headlights off and on again. The first time it happened was probably more than a year, ago, but it has been getting worse. I am no longer driving my car at night, for fear of getting into a wreck, until I can get it fixed.
Purchased the car used and immediately noticed that the passenger side headlight would go out intermittently with no warning or apparent reason. Turning the lights off and back on would bring both lights back on. Now - a year later - the same thing is happening with both headlights. Very scary. Have been advised by a Toyota dealer that the problem is bulb burnout. How can that be when they come on initially and work intermittently"?? the cost to replace both bulbs is $527! this is a serious safety concern. Can't afford a fix. What to do?"
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Wilmington, DE, USA