Headlight problem

[Cynda]

Well, my husband has been on the phone back and forth all day between our local service center, and the customer service gal at the Toyota 1-800 number...finally an agreement, that Toyota will pay for all parts but we will cover the labor, $230.00. Not 100 % happy, but that's affordable for us right now and I do understand there will be some labor involved in the repair. We ARE however, keeping a ridculous paper trail, so if it happens again, we're prepared. I will just flip out if we have to do this again in a year.

[windstrings]

Welcome to the forum!.... that was a glorious entrance being the 500th poster!

I'm curious.. you say this is your fifth time in... how many times has the bulb actually been replaced?
and also, once it was replaced, how long did it take for the "same" bulb to act up again?

I'm curious because I haven't noted anyone having problems soon after replacing a bulb... of course you could have another issue.

Also, sometimes dealers seem to want to exhaust all resources and run up the bill before doing the obvious "replacing the bulb".

Just because you only paid 150.00 to replace the bulb, that doesn't mean Toyota didn't reimburse them too.

Seems they enjoy getting paid by both parties if they can get away with it. Toyota is starting to pay even though its out of warranty.. but in limited measured amounts.
Of course the dealer will not disclose details to us, nor will Toyota.

At any rate, tell us why you had to go in so many times and what did they do each time?

[CBarr31]

I just wanted to list the NHTSA Action Number for this problem since I had some trouble finding it earlier in this thread.

The correct number is: PE09019

And can be searched for here: ODI - Office of Defects Investigation

The investigation is still listed as "Open" so maybe we will get a recall out of this but I doubt it.

Happy Driving,
Chris Barr

[yorkeyng]

Whoa! That's crazy! My local Toyota dealership charged me $40 labor for the replacement of BOTH headlights--$230 sounds outrageous! Can you go to a different dealership for a better price?

Originally Posted by Cynda

Well, my husband has been on the phone back and forth all day between our local service center, and the customer service gal at the Toyota 1-800 number...finally an agreement, that Toyota will pay for all parts but we will cover the labor, $230.00. Not 100 % happy, but that's affordable for us right now and I do understand there will be some labor involved in the repair. We ARE however, keeping a ridculous paper trail, so if it happens again, we're prepared. I will just flip out if we have to do this again in a year.

[captpg]

Hello, and many thanks to the posters who contributed previously to this thread. Very helpful in dealing with with what appears to be some rather outrageous conduct by Toyota and its dealers with respect to this by now very well documented problem.

Does anyone have any experience or advice in how to handle the situation where the Toyota dealer denies being able to find anything wrong with the HIDs in their diagnosis? I suspect their diagnosis is incorrect, because police officers have twice issued my teenage daughter tickets for driving without her lights on. (Unfortunately, each time she didn't check the lights until after the officer had left and discovered to her confusion that the lights appeared to be working just fine). Is there a specific diagnostic test that will reveal the problem or are are the options just to wait until they burn out completely and not to drive at night until then? (I'm not really sure that is an option . . . .)

Thanks in advance for any insight and advice.

Captpg
2006 Prius Package 6
with HID Lights (sometimes)

[drmanny3]

Well I am now at 52,000 miles and the headlight problem is back as it was before. Go figure

Originally Posted by drmanny3

Well the dealer first replaced both bulbs. The problem did not go away. We had one light that was white and the other that was yellow. They then replaced the two cpu units. That was going to do it but it did not. Toyota suggested that they again replace the bulbs as the ones they put in may not have been the most current version. Anyway they again replaced the bulbs and now everything works perfectly. So does this mean that they did not need to replace the cpu? I don't know. To put in the bulbs you need to pull the front bumper off. a lot of work. The bill would have been about $2000. However I caught it while still in warranty. Had I not been in warranty I would have just purchased after market bulbs. and if necessary ballast as well.
Manny

[windstrings]

Originally Posted by captpg

Does anyone have any experience or advice in how to handle the situation where the Toyota dealer denies being able to find anything wrong with the HIDs in their diagnosis? I suspect their diagnosis is incorrect, because police officers have twice issued my teenage daughter tickets for driving without her lights on.

First of all.. take a picture of your lights when one goes out.

Second, give them a hypothetical situation and ask them if their diagnosis equipment can detect a spark plug missing problem if its not missing when they check it?

Or, can they detect a problem that is intermittent and if its not acting up at the time, will their equipment register an error?

Ask them if the computer has a way of knowing if the light goes out and registers such errors in its memory for them to retrieve later?

Then show them that you are not alone and they cannot detect something thats not happening unless it happens when they are checking it.

Lastly... show them the tickets the officier gave and ask them if they think the officer was lying when he gave you the ticket or their diagnostic equipment is wrong?

You may not confrontational... but thats some ammunition to play with.

Go to the top... go to the sales manager and even Call Toyota yourself... lastly.. go to another dealer and don't mention your demise with this dealer till the issue is resolved.

[c00lbeans]

Good News - I contacted the Toyota Corporate office and got my problem fixed.

Here is what I went through:
I called the customer service number on the Toyota Website and talked to someone, who collected my info and what my problem was. I made sure to tell them that I knew many people were having the same problem. He said he will get an agent to call me back the next business day. Meanwhile, he said I should contact my local dealer customer manager and gave me his number.

I called the local dealer customer manager and told him about my problem. I also made sure to tell him that I've heard many people having this problem. Interestingly, before I even told him about the specific details about my problem, he said "and your headlight is going off after you turn it on for awhile?" He said he had to contact the Toyota agent, but said he will call me back. Later that day, he told me to bring in the car for a free diagnosis and I will also get a rental car while my car is in the shop.

I dropped off my car at lunch the next day and received a call from Toyota agent, who said he just received my file (but have not talked to the technician or the customer manger at the dealer where I dropped of my car). I re-explained the situation, because the first agent wrote some weird stuff I didn't even say without writing down things I said. The agent was surprised when I told him I changed my bulbs - and immediately said that there is nothing they can do if I put in bulbs that were not from Toyota. I told him I dropped off my car with the old bulbs (luckily) and he said he will contact the master technician and will call me back.

The service man from the local dealership called me in the evening to tell me that they will have to replace computer chips of both headlights AND the light bulbs. I asked him what was wrong and he just said they were defective. Luckily, they are going to pay for the repair and told me just to come back with the rental car on Wednesday or Thursday when they call me back.

Here is my vehicle stat:

Prius 2007
Miles: 39000
Problem: Driver side headlight kept going off after turn it on for awhile. I changed the bulbs (from ebay) and they were okay for two days. The driver side bulb start going out again then went permanently out. I also saw condensation inside the driver side headlight.

Hope this information can help someone.

[windstrings]

If they want to replace whatever computer chip.... more power to them if its not going to cost you.
I have had no such chip replaced and mine work perfect from my ebay lights.

Anyway... this is encouraging.

As soon as Toyota makes it the norm to treat people this way and releases a bullitin to all the dealers to do just that then the problem will be resolved and Toyota will be restored to good faith.

Until then.. some people get "no" satisfaction, while others only get it if they show up with a pair of pliers ready to pull teeth, while others get the red carpet treatment.

I'm not sure why this inconsistency has to exist.

[sarahrose0413]

Thank goodness I found this thread!! My sister had to have 1 of her headlights replaced about 5K miles (08), my mom had 1 replaced on her 08, and I have now had BOTH my lights replaced on my 08, I have no idea what the deal is with these headlights, but they sure are not long lasting like they are supposed to be!! I also notice they just don't give me the best visibility as regular car lights, so I just don't drive at night much, or if I do, I take our other car.