Prius Headlight Class Action Update: Settlement Reached

This is great!

 

Keep in mind that there are exceptions extending the warranty period. If you can prove that you had the car checked out for intermittent light performance before 5 years or 50k miles, you could get yours repaired under warranty.

 

This is good news to me. I have been calling the dealership for 6 months telling them about this problem. Driver's side has been acting up since April, and now the passenger side from time to time as well.
Fingers crossed that they help me out even though I'm now well past the 50k mark.
$350 headlights are a more than I can swallow.... If they abandon me, there will be a DIY job in my garage pretty soon!

 

I've always wondered if a dealership knows about these class action lawsuits - if they try to pull a quick one on you and don't bring it up.

I'm curious to know your experience. Please remember to tell us if you can. Good luck!

 

Oh boy am I glad to hear this... I complained at berkeley toyota about this in my 06. They said that I had to replace both bulbs at 400$ each and the ballast. at around 300$ plus labor. I called Toyota care filed a complaint and wrote the NTSC and files a safety complaint. 4 days later I got the informational mailing from Toyota that they had reduced their prices from 400 to 170$ because of customer complaints. (Greed) 2 days after that I got a call from Walnut Creek Toyota about the headlights. this time I was to spend headlights x 2 and labor but the ballast was found not to be a problem. Labor was about 125$ to remove the bumper to get to the headlights and replace the lamps. I went to ebay and found D4R lamps by Phillips for 109$ a pair and removed the bumper and replaced the lights. bear in mind I have never done this before. The whole job took about 40 minutes and it was fairly easy. All that said, I'm still mad as hell at Toyota. They knew about this and did nothing except extort customers into paying about 10 times the going rate for lamps. This is the very last car I am buying from them,. After 5 new cars all Toyotas... I'm turning to the dark side for my next vehicle. I'm going to go with Honda. I wonder... was it worth it for Toyota?!? They will never have me as a customer again.
-Paul R. Haller-

 

This is too little too late. Toyota knew about this problem, and failed to do anything about it.

 

I wonder if I am going to get the same crap from Toyota Reimbursement for the HID I replaced on my 2006 Prius as I am getting for the reimbursement for the inverter cooling pump I replaced in the same car. I traded the 2006 in for a 2010 Prius one month after having the inverter pump replaced. In December 2010 I submitted the 2006 VIN number, Toyota dealer repair request, auto rental slip ( It took a week to get the part.), and credit card statements showing my payment for both. They want me to prove ownership of the my 2006 Prius by sending a copy of the title or registration. I don’t own the car anymore. I traded it on the 2010. I don’t have a title, or other proof of ownership. They should have the VIN# in there database showing I had bought the car new in 2006. There reimbursement division sucks and by extrapolation so does Toyota USA.

 

The driver's side headlight on my 2008 is crapping out. I took it in to a dealership yesterday and called two others, but none of them had heard of the warranty extension. They said Toyota would reimburse me for the cost of the bulb but I would have to cover the $200-300 labor charge.

 

I just came back from Bristol (RI) Toyota. The drivers side HID was out and I have 49,894 miles on the car. I'm going to be putting over 1000 miles on the car this week so I wanted to get it into the shop before I hit 50K.

The dealership had not heard of this settlement yet but I had them replace the bulb anyway. $150 bulb, plust $10.60 tax or so. Labor was only $30 (Wake, I think your dealer is crooked)

I was reading up on the CAS and it looks like it's going to be finalized on March 1st, 2011, so we should be able to start submitting for reimbursement at this time.

 

IrishPark, that's the lowest price that I have seen so far for a dealership HID replacement (excluding free warranty replacements). Congratulations! $190 per headlight is still ridiculous and out of line, but it is better than $400.

 

I dropped off the car for oil change, tire rotation, and headlight. They called me about 90 minutes later saying I could pick it up. Very impressed with this dealership so far!

 

at 35,000 miles I had the HID bulbs and relays replaced under warranty due to them going off and on. Well I am at 70,000 miles now and it is happening again Dealer wont do anything, I guess I will call Toyota about the info provided. Thanks.

 

^Don't be discouraged. You can always upgrade the bulbs to 5000k for $50-60 from Amazon.

 

Do you drive with your lights on all the time? Seems too coincidental that each pair lasted only 35,000 miles.

You won't need to have the relays replaced, just the bulbs. $54.xx each on Amazon. Don't bother with Toyota.

 

:ear::ear::ear:

 

i just installed the 5000K bulbs from Amazon. i had previously installed the 6000K blue but didn't like the blue tint. that is, i prefer the bright white.

here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004H2N46O

anyway...i'm able to change out both bulbs in 20 minutes now that i know how to do it.
once i get enough clearance to twist off the round plastic covers (driver side: remove fuse cover...passenger side: remove air intake and two electrical connectors for washer fluid) the remaining steps are done by "feel".

i wish i could do this for a living...i'd make a killing @ $300/side.

 

The info provided said this was good until March 2011, well I called Toyota today to find out details since me dealer would not help. Toyota said, though you have had this replaced already Toyota has removed that service offer JAN 1st 2011, so im SOL basically.

 

Nope, just at night. They work, but they will go out, and I turn them off and on and they work again for 10 minutes or so then one will go out again.

 

Soooooo, Toyota says the headlights will work for the shorter of 5 years or 50k miles? My 2007 has 59k and the passenger headlight is starting to go out. Sounds like there are a LOT of Prius owners in the over 50k mile territory with failing headlights. Thanks a lot Toyota and class action lawyers. Whoop-de-doo an extra 2 years or 14k miles! Why bother?

5yrs/50k wouldn't be so unacceptable if the bulb was under $40 and be replaced in a few minutes like most other cars.

If Toyota does not think there is a problem, why don't they back that up with a REAL solution to our "perceived" problem to shut us up about this non-issue? Like maybe a $60 flat fee charge to the Prius owner per headlight for failed bulb and/or ballast replacement at the dealer for a real life mileage like under 120,000mi? If this is really not a widespread problem like they claim, then it will cost them almost nothing to put this goodwill gesture out there and keep us customers happy to keep buying their cars.

 

Actually, the bulb is $54 and can be replaced in a few minutes, it is just a little tougher than most other cars.