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.
The contact owns a 2009 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that while driving at night, the driver's side head light failed. The contact turned the switch back on and then the passenger's side headlight failed. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection where they stated that the hid headlights needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 65,000.
The contact owns a 2009 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that the headlights would stop working sporadically. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the technician diagnosed that the bulbs needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 94,000.
The right headlight sporadically shuts off while driving. I have had this happen nearly every time I drive with my headlights on. I have been pulled over twice by a police officer because of this issue. I find that if I turn the headlights off and on again, the issue corrects itself, but then occurs again, sometimes during the same driving trip. Not only do I have to incorporate extra time during my night commutes because I may be pulled over by a police officer, but this is dangerous and is a known issue. Please correct this issue by having Toyota recall the Prius.
My right headlight started going off without warning, now both lights are going off without warning. Scary scary scary and dangerous. I have to turn the head lights on and off for them to come back on; it is dangerous when I have to drive at night. It makes if difficult to concentrate on the road, and it becomes hazardous and freighting.
My driver side head light goes out at least once every time I drive with them on. It may go out several times before I arrive at my destination. I have to turn my lights off and then on again to have the light come on. It is very hard to see when the light is out and I have even been stopped by the police because I have only one headlight. As you can see by all the complaints from the people that have taken the time to file this form, it is not just a headlight bulb. Every time I drive at night I'm worried that both lights will go out as some of the complaints have recorded. This is a safety hazard. Toyota should be held responsible to find an answer and be forced to issue a recall before there is a death.
- Port Aransas, TX, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
My right headlight goes off without warning. I have to turn the head lights on and off for it to come back on; it is dangerous when I have to drive at night, and the headlight goes out, . this is a continuous problem, it make if difficult to concentrate on the road, and it becomes hazardous and freighting. It is also bothersome to others when I have to turn my lights on and off.
Beginning in July 2013, the headlights on my 2009 Toyota Prius started flickering while driving at night and then both lights went off. The headlights continue to turn off while driving. Sometimes it is one light and sometimes it is both lights. When it is one light, it is never the same light that goes out.
I noticed that the driver side headlight appeared to be out, so I checked it and it was. When I turned the lights off and back on the headlight came on for a period of time and went off. I had the headlamps changed with oem part and the lights worked for a day and now it is out again, which might be ballast or something else. I have read many complaints online for the 2006-2009 models have premature headlight failure and great expense to fix. It is dangerous when I have to drive at night and I like to leave the lights on during the day for safety.
Left headlight went out while driving. Then both headlights went out a minute later. Turned lights off and back on and they were ok for a minute. Then the left headlight went out again. This keeps on recurring.
We are having an issue with the left headlight going out after about 15 minutes of driving. We've taken it into the shop multiple times and have not been able to get the issue fixed. We took this to the shop the latest time and they told us it is a known issue with the Toyota Prius hybrid.
Same basic complaint as in other similar 'safety complaints'; for about the last year, headlights go dim, flicker, one or the other will go out for no apparent reason, and more distressing and importantly, in the last couple months, they will both just turn off completely and at the same time while driving down the road at any speed. I have to turn the headlight switch off and on to 'reset' the lights and get them back on. I took the vehicle to the official Toyota repair shop; they would not acknowledge that it is a widespread problem. Blamed the bulbs, which is in conflict with the owners manual instructions, and wanted to charge me $ 550 to replace only the two bulbs. This needs to be a recall item as it is very dangerous to have all lights suddenly go off without any warning, then having to fumble around in the pitch black to turn the light switch off and on again to 'reset' this failure.
The passenger headlight comes on initially but during the drive will go off. I can turn the lights off and back on and the light comes back on. This is an ongoing problem and I don't know it has happened unless I pull up behind someone and see the reflection of my headlights on the car in front of me.
I narrowly missed hitting a pedestrian in a crossing walk at 5am in the morning. The reason-both of my headlights had turned themselves off. I have had a problem with the right one going off and am able to turn it back on by turning the light S off, then back on. But now they both are turning off at different times and it is hard to tell until something like this happens.(it's hard to tell as this car has 2 foglights that I normally keep on, and they give the illusion that the headlights are on). The problem is not in the headlight itself. I know as I had the problem prior to a front end collision about 6 months ago in which they replaced both headlights.the problem has to be in whatever computer controls the headlights. This is a serious defect and should be manufacturer recall issue before someone gets killed.
For some months now I have been having trouble with the right front headlight in my Prius which is an hid lamp. The lights goes out and then when I turn the light switch off then back on again the lamp lights again. I have to do this numerous times while driving. It either eventually stay's lit or I just give up and anticipate a ticket. On occasion when I try to get the light to come back on the drivers side light goes out, and then I am without headlights until I repeat the process. It is not only dangerous while driving in the dark, but when you try to get the lamp to turn back on, people think your flashing them from behind which causes them to become aggressive. It is very stressful and I knew if I looked this up online I'd probably find that there was a recall. I was not surprised to find out that there were complaint identical to mine, but no recall has been issued against Toyota to fix the apparent design problem. I am a 28 year volunteer firefighter and also a senior safety specialist for my company. Why do we have to wait for a serious incident to occur before Toyota is forced to fix the issue. I will not replace this expensive bulb since it appears that it only remediates the problem for a short period the of time before it happens again. I am entrusting in your organization to do something about the issue to ensure the well being of me, my family and those around us who either drive these models and/or become additional victims from our vehicles due to having to "completely" shut down the headlights in an attempt to get them back up. Again this sometimes creates both headlights to go out until repeated. Can that really be a bulb issue? I think not. Please force this large company to do something about the issue before statistics climb on accidents and or injuries resulting from these headlight failures. Thank you for your time and anticipated actions.
We were driving on the interstate at 70 mph, when the headlights suddenly went out. It was dark and raining, and were unable to see the road edge. We pushed the emergency flashers and were able to see how close to the road edge we were. About two minutes later, the lights both came back on and we continued to drive to seek a safer area. Every 15 minutes the lights would flicker.
I noticed some condensation in both front headlamps some time ago but just thought it was a cosmetic problem. About three days ago both my headlights went out. I took my car to the dealership and they informed me that the water inside the headlamps caused my hid lights to short out. I am out of the 36 month 36,000 mile warranty, but still within my extended warranty's limits. Toyota is not going to cover the replacement of the light bulbs or change out the headlights since I'm past the original warranty coverage limit. I was quoted by my Toyota dealership over $1,500 to repair this problem. I also found a memo from Toyota (memo # T-sb-0188-11) that talks about this problem and states that under the oem warranty, it should be replaced at no charge to the customer.
When I turned on the car, the headlights would not turn on. Both lights had been fully operational the day before. Both high and low beams on both sides did not work, so it is definitely not the case that four separate bulbs or fuses all blew independently. I tried turning the headlight switch on and off several times, but this did not correct the problem. The fog lights do illuminate, but that is not enough illumination for safe driving in my area.
The contact owns a 2009 Toyota Prius. The contact stated that water penetrated the headlight's plastic covering due to improper sealing and caused the light bulb to fail. The dealer replaced the light bulb housing but the failure was not corrected. The passenger light bulb failed numerous times. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 90,000 and the current mileage was 100,000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- North Haven , CT, USA