New headlight computer

I started having headlight problems a few weeks back. My car is an '07 with HIDs and 21,000 miles on it. I don't think the problem is one that has been covered in the other headlight problem threads. They have to replace the computer that controls the lights in the car.

One night I noticed the headlights were lighting up the road directly in front of the car but 2-3 car lengths ahead of me it was dark. I thought it was probably an issue with the headlights not being level. Next day I only drove the car during the day; there were no problems. Day after that I got into the car (in the morning - headlights still off) and started it up, and saw PROBLEM on the MFD plus the red ! light on the dashboard as well as an orange light that looked like a headlight. I turned on the headlights and got out to look at them, and they was no light coming from them. So I drove straight to the dealer, where of course the lights came on fine because you can never replicate the problem when you're at the dealer, but they decided to replace the headlights anyway (due to the known issues with Prius HIDs). Covered under warrantly, so okay.

It was a few days later before I had to drive at night again, and again the lights were bright directly in front of the car but were not shining well in the distance. So today I brought the car back to the dealer, who figured the leveler had to be fixed when I described the problem to him. However after spending several hours diagnosing the problem, they determined that the computer that controls all the lights needs to be replaced. The cost would be $2600 if it were not covered by the warranty (I think that's just for the parts, not including labor).

They had to order the part and would not let me drive the car until the computer is replaced because they said the lights could fail at any time(!). So right now I have a loaner. I'm hoping they'll get the new part tomorrow.

I did a search here on headlight problems and have read a lot about the lights themselves needing to be replaced as well as problems with a corroded leveler, but has anyone else needed to replace this computer? I hope this is not a common problem, since it's not cheap to fix if the warranty has expired.

 

Sigh. I am still waiting for my car to be fixed. The part they needed was backordered. At 11:45 today they told me it had arrived, but they never called me to say the car was ready to be picked up. This cannot be good.

Meanwhile they gave me a Matrix as a loaner. I would have used 2 gallons of gas this week with my car, and I already used up 1/2 tank of gas in the Matrix by Saturday, when the empty light came on so I put in 2 gallons then. I'll probaby be out of gas again tomorrow. Not to mention there's no cover for the cargo area, so I risk a break-in every time I have to leave something in the car, and without a backup camera I have absolutely no idea what I might be hitting when I try to back up.

Sigh.

 

So, the new computer was installed but it did not solve the problem entirely. The most recent message I got was that "they are in communications with Toyota." Which I guess means they don't know what the problem is.