Headlight problem

[alansanmateo]

good explanation though it doesn't explain what I am observing with my car:

when the right headlight is out (and left is on), flashing the high beams does NOT result in the right lightbulb being on when the high beam is flashed back to the "off" position

interesting observation that the lights need to be ON for a while before the light goes off. If only it ALWAYS went off after X minutes. But it doesn't.....

[windstrings]

I think it never completely fires all the material inside the bulb so it can't maintain the hot plasma state and finally fails without another restart.. "just my theory"

Flashing the highbeams does absolutely nothing unless in the act of doing so you are really pulling the lever far enough to activate the lights on.

[alansanmateo]

at least I got a photo of the passenger side light out last night. That's step #1.....

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by alansanmateo

good explanation though it doesn't explain what I am observing with my car:

when the right headlight is out (and left is on), flashing the high beams does NOT result in the right lightbulb being on when the high beam is flashed back to the "off" position

interesting observation that the lights need to be ON for a while before the light goes off. If only it ALWAYS went off after X minutes. But it doesn't.....

Yes it does. I think you are still missing a few details on how HIDs work.

With HIDs, there is only one capsule per lamp. The single capsule runs at the same brightness for both high and low beam. A small shade moves back and forth mechanically to switch from high to low beam. Therefor, flashing to high beam does nothing electrically if the lights are already on.

To restart the lights, you need to turn them off and back on. The starting sequence uses a higher voltage to strike the lamps, then settles down to a lower voltage for normal operation.

The amount of time it takes for a marginal capsule to go off varies with a number of factors. Don't expect it to be consistent.

Next time one of your lights goes out, turn off your headlights and turn them back on. If both lights then work, most likely you have a bad capsule, in which case replace both capsules.

If you have time, allow the headlamps to cool before starting. This will increase the life of your lamps.

Tom

[alansanmateo]

Originally Posted by qbee42

Next time one of your lights goes out, turn off your headlights and turn them back on. If both lights then work, most likely you have a bad capsule, in which case replace both capsules.

If you have time, allow the headlamps to cool before starting. This will increase the life of your lamps.

Good suggestion. I'll try that. Thanks.

[adfunk]

I have a 2004 Prius and have been having headlight issue, mostly with driver side headlight. If I turn the lights off and then back on quickly, it comes back on. Recently when I was taking my daughter back to college, both headlights clicked off without warning, leaving me in darkness on a stretch of highway that didn't have any lights. They did this one other time on my way back home. Very unnerving. When I took my car to the dealership the next morning, I got a quote for close to $1000 to replace the bulbs/capsules (whatever they are). I emailed Toyota directly as I considered this a safety issue. They offered to help me with 1/2 the cost. Still $400-500 is huge cost for headlights. My husband purchased lights that are supposed to work from NAPA (for about $200/pair). But, he was unable to get the spring off the back to put them in. Is there a trick to this?

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by adfunk

I have a 2004 Prius and have been having headlight issue, mostly with driver side headlight. If I turn the lights off and then back on quickly, it comes back on. Recently when I was taking my daughter back to college, both headlights clicked off without warning, leaving me in darkness on a stretch of highway that didn't have any lights. They did this one other time on my way back home. Very unnerving. When I took my car to the dealership the next morning, I got a quote for close to $1000 to replace the bulbs/capsules (whatever they are). I emailed Toyota directly as I considered this a safety issue. They offered to help me with 1/2 the cost. Still $400-500 is huge cost for headlights. My husband purchased lights that are supposed to work from NAPA (for about $200/pair). But, he was unable to get the spring off the back to put them in. Is there a trick to this?

Yes. Take a look at this post:
http://priuschat.com/forums/care-mai...-06-prius.html

Tom

[Eric Nothman]

Originally Posted by qbee42

Yes. Take a look at this post:
http://priuschat.com/forums/care-mai...-06-prius.html

Tom

My 2006 Prius HID headlights also started to fail at just under 36,000 miles. Though I reported it to the dealer at 36,200 and could only demonstrate the problem at 38,000 miles, Toyota (and the dealer) good willed the full repair (THANK YOU TOYOTA!).

Before they were fixed, I too was driving at highway speeds on a dark section of road when both headlights failed - and then seconds later came back on (without any intervention from me). And, in another incident they both failed at highway speeds (at night) but came right back on when I flipped the switch off and then on. Both these experiences were worrisome since I had my family in the car at the time.

We also noticed a single headlight went off (corrected with flipping the switch off and then on), and also the other one did the same. So, at times they failed independently of one another. And, the problem was extremely intermittant where everything worked fine for weeks or a month, then a couple incidents occured, and then seemed fine again. Of course, when I brought it in to the dealer they did not fail. So, I took a photo of the case where a single headlight was affected and provided that to the repair department to illustrate the issue.

I was concerned that the computer might have been faulty considering two headlights failed simultaneously (what do those two parts have in common that might fail?). However, the dealer assured me the computer was not involved (no error codes recorded) and that only the headlights needed replacement. The repair person indicated that only in the 2005 models did the computer seem to, at times, be an issue (and my car is a 2006). Since the repair a few weeks ago there have been no more incidents, so I am hopeful this assessment was correct.

Eric

[Timotheos]

Toyota paid for most of my repair and I'm out of warranty. Read on.

As we now know, this is a bulb defect issue, but not just in the Prius, but other Toyota vehicles as well. My headlights were turning off unbidden, so I read Priuschat and then called Toyota. After a few conversations and a trip to the dealer, they said they'd re-imburse me about 2/3rds of the cost of $550. (The price went down from $1,200 over the last year, according to Toyota since so many cars are having this problem.). They paid for about $380 of it (labor plus tax).

This is a major safety concern. So do everyone a favor and submit your complaint to the NHTSA. It takes about 3 minutes. Once NHTSA gets enough complaints, they'll force Toyota to do a bulb recall. Toyota is doing all it can to avoid a recall, which is why they're paying, in part, for the repairs for folks like me. Once a recall happens, they'll have to fix EVERY affected vehicle FOR FREE--a costly expense for them, for sure.

Then do yourself a favor and call Toyota. By the way, Toyota used the frequency of my use of the dealer service center (never) and history of previously owned Toyota vehicles (never) to determine what percent of the service they paid for. Your discount may be higher than mine. Good luck and be sure to file a complaint to NHTSA.

[Atoyotaprius]

I posted this on the "headlight replacement" thread but I also want to post it here.

If you are experiencing the Toyota Prius HID headlight defect failure you may be looking at a repair cost of up to $1,800. Here's a recommended approach for getting Toyota to take responsibility for the defect and to minimize your out-of-pocket expense:

1) Take your car to your dealer's service department and tell them that the HID headlight(s) are unexpectedly shutting off. Let the service writer know that you are aware that this is a common problem with HID equipped Prius (seems to be mostly 2005-2008). You should mention that the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has registered over 480 Prius HID headlight safety complaints. You can review the complaints by downloading the attached NHTSA database file or visiting the NHTSA database at: www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/complaints/index.cfm. You can also mention Toyota's Technical Service Bulletin: T-SB-0030-08 "HID Headlight System - Diagnostic Tips". If your car is still within the 3 year / 36K mile warranty period then Toyota should cover the repair cost 100%. If your service writer tells you that the repair is not covered (he may say that the bulbs are not covered under the warranty or point out that your car is beyond the 3 year / 36K mile warranty period) then ask if the service manager would contact Toyota corporate and seek Toyota's approval to cover the cost under Toyota's customer goodwill or loyalty program. If your dealer refuses to fix the HID defect free of charge then get a repair quote and move on to step 2.

2) Call the Toyota "Customer Experience Center" (This is Toyota's corporate customer service. Website: Toyota Help) at 1-800-331-4331. State that you have a safety defect with the headlights on your Prius. Say that you would like to report the problem to Toyota and open a case asking that Toyota repair the defect at no cost to you. The customer experience center representatives are extremely polite and will offer to open a case. They will supply you with a case number. They may take your information immediately or they may have someone call you back. You may want to call the 800 number and ask for Teresa at extension 73837. Teresa is very knowledgeable and helpful. She will know exactly what you are talking about when you mention the Prius headlight issue. You should be polite but firm. This is a serious safety problem and you know that it is a common problem on HID equipped Prius. They may start out by offering to cover 20% to 50% of the repair cost. Be firm and insist on 100% coverage.

3) File a formal safety complaint with the NHTSA.
Headlights that unexpectedly shut off while driving is clearly a safety issue. And it does appear that HID headlight equipped Prius indeed contain a design defect. Reporting a safety defect to the NHTSA is the first step in forcing Toyota to conduct a recall.

There are three ways to file a complaint...
Call the Vehicle Safety Hotline:
Call 1-888-327-4236 or 1-800-424-9393 toll free (1-800-424-9153, for use by persons with hearing impairments)

File the complaint on-line:
File the complaint on-line at the NHTSA vehicle safety Web site: safercar.gov. Select “File a Complaint” within the Defects and Recalls section of the home page. Or just click here: File a Complaint

U.S. Mail:
Send a letter to:
U.S. Department of Transportation
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Office of Defects Investigation (NVS-210)
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE
Washington, DC 20590