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2010 Prius Headlights constantly going out

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by choloperuano, Jul 30, 2015.

  1. choloperuano

    choloperuano Junior Member

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    Location:
    Coeur d Alene, Idaho
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Does anyone have this issue? I bought this car new in 2010 and it's a level IV not Four as it is a 2010. I am about to replace my headlights for the 5th time after only having had these for about 3-4 months. The dealership says that things happen but I've never owned a vehicle where the headlights are constantly going out. The first 3 times that the headlights went out, the dealership replaced them. I replaced them this last time and now I am headed to AutoZone, where I bought them, to see about getting them replaced for free as they were about $50 for the pair (Sylvania Ultra).

    I don't believe it's the headlights as much as I feel that it has something to do with the car. They went out last night as I got into the car at night and when I switched on the lights, they flashed and went out. The high beams still work but the lows do not.

    Anyway, hopefully I've explained myself well and if anybody has any insight to this, please help!

    Thank you very much! :)
     
    #1 choloperuano, Jul 30, 2015
  2. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    There's a TSB out for this problem that involves replacing the lowbeam wiring harness.
     
    #2 xliderider, Jul 30, 2015
  3. choloperuano

    choloperuano Junior Member

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    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    My dealership knows nothing about this. Any chance you can point me to the direction of the TSB?
     
    #3 choloperuano, Jul 30, 2015
  4. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    If there is a TSB out for this problem, they will probably ask for you to pay for the repair now that it's out of warranty. You should bring to their attention that the complaint was made during warranty and the solution was to just give you another set of free bulbs, instead of fixing it correctly under the TSB.

    This thread has the TSB #TSB-0204-12 in it.

    Gen3 2010 2011 Headlight bulb longevity - upgrade to HID? | PriusChat
     
    #4 JC91006, Jul 30, 2015
  5. choloperuano

    choloperuano Junior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Before I posted on here I spent about 30 minutes with my dealership and their service manager about this issue. Every excuse under the rainbow was given as to why these lightbulbs could be going out. These included driving on bumpy roads, driving on dirt roads, maybe the technicians were using their hands and getting fingerprints on the bulbs, defective bulbs… you get my point. The first person to reply to this mentioned that there was a TSB out on this. Where would I find that TSB so that I may print it and take it to the service manager so that they can fix it without any cost to me? By the way, I did mention the fact that this was brought up while it was still under warranty and he did see the times that the bulbs were replaced.

    Oops! I guess I missed that part. Thank you very much! Unfortunately now I'm a bit upset at the dealership for not doing something about it earlier. I went out and bought $55 bulbs which are both out right now. Maybe I'll sic my wife on them!
     
    #5 choloperuano, Jul 30, 2015
  6. frodoz737

    frodoz737 Top Wrench

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    "If" documentation exists this problem showed up prior to the TSB 3/36 limit and your Dealership won't budge...file a complaint with Toyota. If your documentation indicates the problem showed up after 3/36 then you have no legal recourse.
     
    #6 frodoz737, Jul 30, 2015
  7. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    If they won't fix it at no charge, since it is probably past the warranty period, then you can bypass the entire factory lowbeam wiring harness with this:

    http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=380604236557&alt=web

    It is 14 gauge wire, which will definitely provide a low resistance path to your headlights.

    There is absolutely no problem bypassing your factory wiring harness/lowbeam circuit using a relay harness. Here is a picture of a 14 gauge dual relay wiring harness I put together for my Camry to get ready for my HID installation.

    [​IMG]

    I'm currently using this harness with my H9 65w halogen bulbs, so the 14 gauge wires will work well with your 55w halogen bulbs. 35w HIDs get installed this weekend.
     
    #7 xliderider, Jul 30, 2015
    Last edited: Jul 30, 2015
  8. Aaron White

    Aaron White Junior Member

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    #8 Aaron White, May 26, 2019
  9. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Gadzooks, an old thread that didn't get updated.

    Early on, there was an assumption that the 2010-eats-halogen-headlights issue was a result of too much wiring resistance, delivering too low a voltage to the headlights.

    Then Dark_matter_doesn't actually read the TSB and noticed it fixes the problem by adding additional wire in series; that is, you solve the problem by increasing the wiring resistance, not by decreasing it. On further investigation, the repair harness serves to shave off about 0.55 volts from what arrives at the bulb.

    This makes a certain amount of sense, as incandescent bulbs have their lifetimes drastically shortened by overvoltage (where "drastically" means somewhere around volts to the thirteenth power). So sending 13.35 to a 12.8-volt-rated bulb makes a difference.

    The problem is exacerbated by buying the "premium", extra-bright bulbs (you know, the ones usually hanging at eye-level at the auto parts stores, hoping you won't notice the standard H11s down on the pegs by your ankles). The "premium" ones all make a drastic tradeoff of longevity for brightness to begin with, and then if installed in a Prius with a tendency to overvolt them, they go poof in very short order.

    When I bought my 2010, the seller complained about how often they went poof, but the last ones he put in, just so he could sell the car, were standard ones. So I ordered the repair harnesses from Toyota and figured I'd install them when the bulbs burned out, but the standard ones haven't yet. :)
     
    #9 ChapmanF, May 26, 2019
    Mendel Leisk likes this.
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