HID Woes - Different Problem than Usual

Ok, my 06 PKG8 Prius is having yet another HID issue. I'm beginning to really hate this car and Toyota.

About 6 months ago, the passenger side HID went out. The car, still being under bumper to bumper/extended platinum warranty, I called the dealer not even researching this thinking it'd be handled under warranty. Hell my 08 BMW M3's HID went out and BMW couldn't have been better about handling it. A second and then third HID went out and never a question about fixing it (FYI- turned out to be a bad/grounded cable that was causing the HIDs to blow).

Anyways, I was told by the dealer I was SOL and they'd happily take my $400-500 to replace the bad bulb. As any logical person would do, I came here and realized a few things: 1) The Prius HIDs are garbage. 2) It's common. 3) There's the threat of class action lawsuit. 4) Might as well buy the cheap Chinese bulbs for $70 and fix it.

So I took what seemed like the recommended route of buying the HID's on eBay from that recommended guy. I installed both new bulbs (what a PITA). Anyways, 6 months, everything's been fine and dandy.

Drove out to dinner tonight, everything's good. Coming out of the restaurant, car starts up, BAM! no headlights, no brights. Now, both are out. Both low beams and high beams. Fogs and signals are ok, but no actual headlight.

Rather than deal with my crappy dealer and Toyota, I came here and couldn't find anyone with the same problem. I troubleshooted the obvious, fuses look good, toggled it on and off over the course of a couple hours, etc. No dice. I have to drive down a real rural Texas FM road to get to my house and it was really dicey. Thank the heavens that I have fog lights and I could limp my way home.

Anyways, I'd rather fix this myself than deal with my arrogant dealer or deal with Toyota. This might be the straw for me on this car. That and I recently received a nice letter in the mail from Toyota defending that HID headlights break and that we're SOL and uncovered by warranty in this case. Any recommendations for self fixing?

Thanks!

 

I'll add that I've ruled out it being the column switch or basic switch electronics. When switching to headlights and high beams I can clearly hear the relay clicking noise. So the issue is likely at the ballast or HID bulb itself. It seems since each light has its own relays that the systems are independent. Both lights going out at exactly the same time seems unlikely so I'm really perplexed.

 

I replaced one of the drives with my old OEM bulb and it started working. The eBay bulb was clearly burned out. I'm assuming the other one is the same. I requested an RMA since it came with a 1 year warranty.

It seems odd that both burned out at the same time, I'm perplexed by that.

 

Well now the passenger side started working again. I'll search for those Philip's ones. I'd prefer not dealing with a dealer. I had read the Chinese ebay ones from that particular buyer are basically the same, but I suppose not.

I'd be happy if I could just get 3 years on a set of bulbs given the bad experience I've had trying to replace them.

 

Any retail store you can get these?