Fog Light - PROBLEM???

[RadMarv]

I just took my 2005 Pruis to the dealer. I noted today when cleaning the fog lights that BOTH had one long crack in them.

I mentioned to the service manager that several people here have noticed cracks in their fog lamps and he said he hadn't heard of a problem yet regarding them. BUT most of the Prius he's seen don't have them.

He took a very LONG close look at both lamps and he thinks the cracks were NOT caused by any impact. the lights are still smooth on the surface and he could not find any sign that an impact cause this cracking. And both lights have similar cracks.

I am thinking that it might be caused by the heat generated against the glass surface and being hit by cold water. I remember having the lights on when I had the car washed at the automatic carwash the last time. I also remember checking the lamps and they were fine when "roadgoat" posted a note about cracked fog lights back in January.

The dealer is replacing my fog lamps under warranty.

Here's the left light


Here's the right light

[Tideland Prius]

Hmm, this seems to be a surfacing problem.

[Sufferin' Prius Envy]

I think the problem goes below the surface. :P :|

No cracks on mine yet - surface or subsurface - and I have used them in rain and fog.

[Rick Grahn]

Same problem w/my '05. No impact points. Dealer is replacing under warranty.

[Tideland Prius]

Oh oh, since radmarv posted his foglight pictures. I noticed that your foglights sit nicely into the housing. Mine doesn't (I attribute it to my brother hitting the Detour sign). So that means I gotta have it fixed right?

[bobc]

Well Tideland, I didn't post a response in your thread because others were saying that they're lights didn't fit flush. Mine do fit flush, tho...

It could be that the lights themselves got knocked out of grille. This photo shows that the very edge of the glass is indented. This fits right up agains the grill. Take a look and see if its as easy as popping these back into place.

To get at the fogs to truly see if something's broken, you need to drop the two plastic pieces that make up the bottom of the car that are in the bumper/fender corners. These also comprise the wheel wells but you don't have to remove all of it. Then, you need to drop the large plastic piece that makes up the main aerodynamic piece right under the engine. With these removed, you have full access to the fogs. You can pop out the bulbs, remove the front grille in front of the lights, etc. The lights themselves sit in a pre-fab piece of plastic. Could be that this is broken...

Hope this helps...

[Tideland Prius]

Well I'll take note of the indents when I try to fix 'em. It's odd that both are out of place at the same time. There is a gap between the foglight housing and the plastic piece. At this point, I'm not sure if both foglights got knocked (which is odd) or if it's the plastic piece that got moved (which is odd cause that means the plastic piece moved forward which can't happen if the sign hit it from the front of the car). I shall take a closer look and maybe post pictures since pictures always help.

[DanMan32]

"... which can't happen if the sign hit it from the front of the car....

The sign moved? Is that like the tree jumped right in front of me?

[Tideland Prius]

lol. Guess that is kinda funny.

which reminds me,my friend's cat actually hit a moving car (which I can only assume he hit the side of the car). He's still alive. To this day, we have no idea why

[RadMarv]

I had the new fog lights installed on Tuesday and had the 3M Stonegard installed immediately thereafter.

While at the dealer two more service managers took a look at the lights. The first one ran his fingers along the cracks and said he couldn't feel anything and asked the district service rep for an opinion. After running his ink pen along the cracks (he didn't offer to allow me to do it as proof), his opinion differed greatly from that of the other manager and the service manager who worked last Saturday who said he could not find an impact point. This district manager wanted me to pay a portion of the costs and I reminded him the first two managers who looked could not find any impact point on either light and the Saturday manager said he'd cover them under warranty.

DONE DEAL! He relented, without any further fuss.

On a side note... He noticed my Llumar Paint Protection and said that Toyota is now installing it as a factory option. Surprised me and the other manager.

Anyone else hear of it?