Headlight computers replaced by dealer

About a year ago, I was driving to Florida at night, doing about 75mph when all of a sudden both headlights went out on a pitch dark stretch of highway. I managed to safely pull over, turned the car off and then on again, and both headlights came on, but began to go from bright to dim and back. I made it home, and checked the bulbs, fuses, and all connections, which were ok. I called Toyota, who tried to tell me I needed to replace the bulbs at $450 each. I told them that bulbs either work or don’t work.

I did some research on the internet and downloaded 25 pages of Prius owners who had the same headlight problem. I emailed the pages to Toyota headquarters and threatened to sue them if anyone in my family was hurt or killed as a result of this obvious electrical/electronics problem. I scheduled an appointment and took my car to our local Toyota dealer.

Toyota headquarters initially denied ever hearing about a headlight problem, and again tried to say it was bad bulbs. I handed the 25 pages to the manager of the dealership, and told him I spent 20 years as an electronics technician, and can absolutely say beyond a shadow of a doubt that the bulbs were good.

He said he had to step away for a minute, and went into his office. He came out about about ten minutes later, and said he was replacing both headlight computers under warranty. He said this was a $3000 repair, and it was being handled on a case by case basis by Toyota.

I was impressed the dealership stood up for me and did the right thing by replacing the computers even though my car had 100,000 miles.

My headlights have worked perfectly ever since.