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2009 HID headlights going out?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by tsit73, Jan 24, 2017.

  1. tsit73

    tsit73 New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 21, 2017
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    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
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    N/A
    I have an 09 Prius with 99k miles. I was in my garage last week and noticed that the passenger side headlight was out. I turned the lights off and on again and the light worked. This has been going on for a few weeks. Then last night I noticed the same thing on the driver's side. Turned lights off and on, and again both headlights worked. Can anyone address what the issue is or might be? Are the lights just ready to go? Could it be a fuse issue? Any help would be appreciated.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #1 tsit73, Jan 24, 2017
    Rebound likes this.
  2. Rebound

    Rebound Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
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    Plug-in Base
    Your bulb needs to be replaced. When you turn on HID bulbs, a power supply sends very high current to ignite the bulb. When the bulb begins to fail, it can take several jolts of high current to ignite it.

    However, this can be a big problem: If you're flipping the switch off/on/off/on, you'll blow the electronics which ignite the bulb, and your repair cost will more than triple. So replace the bulbs and don't flip light switch on/off/on/off. If it doesn't ignite, wait for the igniter to cool down.
     
    #2 Rebound, Jan 24, 2017
  3. tankyuong

    tankyuong Senior Member

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    Either bulb or ballast
     
    #3 tankyuong, Jan 24, 2017
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