Will HID kit void warranty?

Technically, the only way a manufacturer can void a warranty is if the aftermarket part(s) can be proven to have damaged the vehicle or caused other components to fail. Refer to the Magnusson Moss warranty act.

I have installed 65w H9 halogen bulbs in place of the 55w oem bulbs. I am very happy with the increased light output and unless the bulbs are physically removed, there is no way to tell they are not stock bulbs.

There is a link in my signature below if you want to read more about this mod. You will need to modify the standard H9 bulb bases to install them in the H11 headlight mount. Very easy with the right tools.

SCH-I535

 

I put xenons on my sister's 2005 Mazda3. After a few months, they started to flicker and then eventually they failed. I took them off immediately. I year later, the alternator failed on that car.

I am not an automobile electrical engineer or anything but I am pretty damn sure that the high current drawn during the initial startup of the HID's on the OEM wiring caused the premature failure of the alternator. From that day on, I refused to put HID's or do any sort of mods to lens / headlight assemblies on any car that I've owned...just to avoid all that hassle.

I think in the worse case scenario, if you had an electrical problem on the Prius and the technician saw that you have aftermarket HID's, he could potentially dig up enough dirt to link your upgrade to it. That might entail voiding the warranty on electrical systems. Others here will have more knowledge on this area. IMHO, I think it's best to avoid upgrading to HID's since the lens on our cars were not designed for it. I find the stock halogens light output to be very sufficient....even with my old eyes.

 

The alternator failed a YEAR later and you jump to this conclusion?

 

If you have some sort of related electrical problem, uninstall the HID kit and stick the original bulbs back in before bringing to the dealer.

 

I have a little bit more knowledge of electrical systems. It seems far more likely that the alternator was failing(which would explain the flicker). Once the capacity was diminished it might not have been able to start the xenons.

The way that car headlights work is that the generator(an alternator is just a confusing name for a generator) feeds the battery. The combined electrical system feeds the headlights.

If you want to imagine electricity as water, the generator is a water hose and the battery is a bucket which can overflow(only allowing it to fill up with so much water until it dumps it out). Your headlights are fed off of a spigot on the bottom of that bucket. Under normal conditions the water hose(alternator) puts in as much or more water(electricity) than is coming out of the bucket. The pressure of the output of the bucket(voltage) remains constant. As the water hose gets restricted(alternator failing) you might occasionally drain the bucket(battery). Since the bucket isn't 100% full, you will have lower pressure(voltage). Xenon lamps have controllers, they don't just plug into the DC voltage. When the voltage is lower than expected(normal for a running car is 14-15volts), this can cause problems. This is most likely what you were seeing.

The only way that a heavy load would cause alternator failure is via heat. Generators are rated at 30,000 hours of operation at normal operating temperature(that is how long the wire will last in ideal conditions). The alternators used in cars are "brushed". This means that they use "brushes" for electrical connectivity. This is a simple and a useful type of generator, but the brushes always fail first. In other words, overloading an alternator can cause it to fail, but normally they fail because of the brushes. If you placed a 200W generator under a 400W load it would get very hot. If you simply pulsed it for a short time during startup(as you would with xenon bulbs) then it should cool down before any damage is caused. However, the alternator is normally buffered somewhat by the battery. Unless you are running way too much load on the system, a temporary bump shouldn't cause failure.

 

HID's would void the warranty on your headlight bulbs. Other than that your good.

 

Headlight bulbs have no warranty, so there you go.

SCH-I535

 

What about the 12v juice cable? It's attached inside the fuse box.