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Headlight Trouble

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Davej6655, Aug 29, 2008.

  1. Davej6655

    Davej6655 New Member

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    2006 Prius
    Last month I was pulled over and given a fix-it-ticket (during the day) for having a headlight out. I usually drive with the lights on during the day. I returned home and checked the lights, they both worked. Last week I noticed the driver side light out. I took it to the dealer and when I turned them on, they both worked. I got a quote to replace the light and was shocked at the $500 price. This week I noticed the passenger side light out. I turned the lights on and off a couple times and the light turned on and remained on each time I checked through the day. Yesterday they were both not working, then they were once again. I took the car into the dealer today and they could not find anything wrong. Has anyone experienced this same thing or know what to tell the dealer to look for? This smarts because the dealers only recommendation today was to try replacing both.
     
  2. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Not to put too sharp of a point on it, but you obviously didn't do any sort of a search for this information. There are numerous posts relating to this exact problem. You need to replace your HID capsules. You can have Toyota do it for a lot of money, or do it yourself. This forum has step by step instructions with photos. Try the search function.

    Tom
     
  3. Davej6655

    Davej6655 New Member

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    Thanks for the great advice Tom and don't worry about how sharp your point is. The reason I am on this site is to look for information, I think that is why this site is here. The problem is I didn't find what you say is readily available. So if anyone else has a link with to how to fix the problem without a retort, please send me the link.

    Thanks

    Dave
     
  4. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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  5. dogfriend

    dogfriend Human - Animal Hybrid

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    It pains me to see how many people with Prius in the Sacramento area run their headlights and foglights in the daylight hours. And when they have foglights, that means they also have.....HID headlights. Boy are they gonna be pissed in a year or two.
     
  6. N3FOL

    N3FOL Member

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    Hopefully the price of an HID bulb will not cost that much. In about 1 1/2 years, I will have to learn how to replace my own HID's in case it burns out. I refuse to pay $500.00 + dollars just to replace bulbs...perhaps part of the total would be $150.00 for labor...the rest is the cost of the bulb + dealer markup.:madgrin:
     
  7. marcoinpb

    marcoinpb Junior Member

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    At 38,400 miles on my 2007 Prius, the HID on the passenger side died. With EXTREME difficulty, I was able to compel Toyota USA to replace the HID and Toyota USA (talk with the selling Toyota Dealer led to an offer of almost useless discount on the labor – total for one HID replacement was quoted at $875) absorb the cost of the design defect (perhaps my going to law school and practicing law for a short period of time had some value!) At that time, I pleaded with Toyota USA to replace the not-yet-failed driver side HID – they assured me that it was very unlikely that the 2nd HID would fail.

    Two weeks later, while in a long planed “Road Trip” and in LA (3,000 miles from my home) the 2nd HID failed within 3 miles of Toyota USA headquarters in Torrance, CA. Following a difficult confrontation with the good folks in the Torrance, CA headquarters, Toyota US was kind enough to replace the second HID and absorb the cost of the design defect.

    These “conversations” with Toyota were neither fun nor easy. Good luck with your HID replacement – if you do it yourself you should consider replacing the other HID because it is very likely to fail.
     
  8. JohnPhillipsIII

    JohnPhillipsIII New Member

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    2006 Prius
    Good morning. I am new to this, have never used a forum in the past. But this headlight issue has kind of made me mad. 2006 Package #6, love the car. Passenger headlight went out 2-3 days ago, took it to the dealer, they tested it, changed the "computer", told me the bulb was okay. My wife drives the car home, following me, within 30 miles both headlights go out. Take it back to the dealer, now the passenger bulb is bad, $320 later, it is working. Drive the car home and drivers light goes out. This seems somewhat obsurd that they would both coincidentally go out at the same time, without some underlying cause. My concern is that Toyota knows this is a problem, but doesn't seem to know how to fix it. The liability of me driving on a dark and rainy night and having the headlights fail, seems as though it would benefit them to fix them correctly, and find the underlying cause. I have seen links that kind of tell how to fix it myself, but some suggest using the D2S bulbs instead of the D4R that came in the car. I think it would be best to stick with the correct bulbs.

    Please help.