Why does the Prius seem to blow tail light bulbs so often

Most i see of that age have LED taillights...But besides that there are no reasons for them to blow sooner, besides perhaps a robot forgot to put on their gloves when swapping a tail light bulb...

 

Strange. I've got an '06 with 46k on it, no problems. I don't think I've ever seen a prius with a tail light out either... I think your statement may be just a tad overly broad, without enough data points to back it up.

 

Same here: '06 with 50k and the original bulbs. I've never seen a Prius with a burned out taillight. I have, however, replaced bulbs on pretty much every car that I have owned.

Tom

 

It's only the brake lamps that are LED on the Prius.

If you are blowing tail lamps it could be a bad batch was used in production or there may be a poor connection (lamp flickering while driving due to the poor connection which will age it faster).

I haven't had one blow yet on Pearl (but I just jinxed that!).

 

Knock on wood ~ all of our lamps are all between 6 & 7yrs old and haven't lost one yet. Now watch ... I'll go out to the parking lot and POOF ... 3 or 4 will let the smoke out!

 

I was pulled over about a year ago with a tail light out, at that time the car was 3.5 years old. Since then I notice it more and I'm with you, there seems to be a disproportionate amount of tail lights out on Prii.

Edit: One nice thing is that they are cheap and extremely easy to replace.

 

i've had one blow. i've had many occasions when the there was a poor connection so it looks blown (most prii you see on the road with tail lights out have this problem)

i've even received ticket for having a light out, when it was simply a poor connection. i check all my lights before i drive at night... just to be safe.

 

+1 on how cheap they are and easy to replace,
I've had a few blow over the 4 years i've had mine but that's working nights,lights on for 10-12 hour shift but only costing €1 for a box of 10 capless bulbs,one can't complain.

 

how do you check you brake lites? back up against a wall?

i've never replaced a bulb on my 04 or 08. or noticed one out on another prius. i guess you'll get a lot on both sides of this. a poll maybe?

 

the bulbs are fragile #192 bulbs usually used in small marker lamps in other applications

 

I was surprised when my 04 Prius had a rear brake light go out after just a few years, since they lasted 7-8 years in my previous car, so I do think there's an issue, but it's so easy to replace that who cares.

 

I check my brake lights using an expensive piece of equipment,high maintainence and quite fragile....her indoors!!

 

Mine just blew last weekend...

 

I keep a few replacements in the under-trunk compartment just for the hell of it.

 

I suppose if swomeone is really burning out a lot of bulbs they should check their '12v' level. If it's high, like 14v, I would think your bulbs might not last as long. Getting the dc-dc converter fixed will probably cost more than the bulbs, though... although if it's that high your 12v battery is getting cooked, too.

 

That's how you break them

 

I have replaced the front lights by the headlight on the top corners, both back ones (NOT the LED) at least twice. Also the license plate lights sometimes tweak out. Seems weird..

 

1. Odometer reading?

2. Are you an owner who leaves exterior lights on at all times when driving during daylight hours?

3. Have you measured voltage across the 12V battery when READY? It should be ~13.8V. If much higher, that is the reason why your bulb life is short.

 

1. 126,500

2. Yes

3. I haven't, i'll check it out.

thanks!