I bought a kit off of ebay advertised as an OEM fog light kit (didn't know there was one since no one else seems to sell it) for $174.74 shipped. The main picture for the listing had a generic picture of a fog light from another toyota vehicle, but the actual descriptions showed a Prius V fog light and said it contained a complete kit so I bought it. It arrived a couple days ago like this: Just like the description everything I needed is there, all the wires, harnesses, relays, bezel, fog light, zip ties, even a proper on off switch and everything appears OEM: It even came with instructions by someone fluent in english that were easy enough to follow. It's pretty much plug and play. Take out the bottom plate, pop out the old grills. The fog lights have four mounting tabs but the kit only came with two screws TOTAL, so I didn't know what that was all about. But since it's the OEM light you'll see that the two tabs facing the center of the car actually slides into slots (didn't take pictures because I did everything without lifting the car and it was too cramped to get in there to take pictures) and you only need one screw for the bottom tab on the other side. Then pop the new bezels in. The wiring is pretty much all pre-connected and proper lengths, no splicing or soldering or wire-strippers of any kind required. You have two harnesses, the long one for the engine bay and the shorter one for the dash. Drop the connectors for the fog light and connect them. The other end has a piece that you can route into the fuse box through an existing opening and it slides right into an open slot. There is a relay that you need to connect and that can be mounted to the engine bay and conveniently there is an open hole right below the fuse panel that I've got to believe was intended for this purpose (the only thing is there is not a bolt there and not supplied so you may need to run to the hardware store for this, and you need a really short bolt because there is something just below the hole). Also conveniently you can mount the ground wire to that same place. There are two wires left that you route into the cabin through existing penetrations (instead of cutting or punching a whole I just shoved them in through the side of the rubber gasket). Inside you need to T-tap a coulple of wires with the provided T-taps - easy peasy. Connect the other harness to the T-taps and route the wires down to the wires coming from the engine (they have connectors). Have to T-tap a wire in the steering column: Here's a tip, to remove the panel under the steering column there are two tabs on each side that all you need to do is push in on the lower panel to loosen, and two tabs at the front - behind the steering wheel. You need to turn the steering wheel to access a slot to release the tabs: The other T-tap is behind the switch panel. This one was a little confusing because the directions has the diagram of the harness reversed (like you're looking at it from the other side, say if you had removed it) so I wasn't sure which wire to tap into at first. Once I figured out that I was looking at it backwards it made sense and I found the Green wire it was instructing. There is another relay that snaps into the wiring harness and goes in this area. The switch is what makes this kit. It's OEM so it fits into a blank slot perfectly, and lights up. It has two positions, depressed for on and the led indicator lights up, and regular not depressed for off and just the fog light symbol is on. This kit is designed so that the fog lights only work if the head lights are on, and will turn off automatically when the high beams are on. So you can leave the fog light switched 'on' all the time and they will automatically just turn on and off with the headlights. You can't use these as DRL's only without the headlights. Switch in the on position: Off position: Factory fog lights, no need to adjust the aiming as they go right into place in the right position. (they are left/right specific).
Looks nice - I want some - can you post the link to the ebay store where you got them?? There was rumor of a kit on antoher thread - but no one has updated it... my local dealer wants something like 75 bucks a piece just for the bezels... rip-off.
I didn't know if it was alright to post a link to an item for sale outside of the priuschat store so I didn't include it but here's the link to the kit I bought: http://www.ebay.com/itm/271058726271?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649 By the way there seems to be only a few left, don't know if they'll get more. If the mods would like me to remove the link just let me know or delete this post.
I suspect this kit is prepared for the SET and SWT distributors to use as part of their distributor-added-bundle. I ran across the SofTex leather interior as a similar kit available at my NC dealer and installed locally in a Three after I bought the car. The dealer claimed it was the same one used to turn a Prius V into a leather interior at the Distributors.
When are the fog lights supposed to come on? By law, IIRC, they can't be on when brights are on. Is there a separate switch that turns them on?
So it looks like a built in relay takes care of turning off foglights when brights are turned on. Nice kit, nice pictures and write up. How well were the instructions written. Are the intallation instructions available online anywhere?
Yes a built in relay automatically shuts them off when the highbeams are on or when you turn the headlights off. The included switch can turn it on and off but only works when the regular headlights are on. Instructions are simple (only two pages), clear and easy to understand with black and white pictures. I didn't realize it before but I dug out the instructions from the trash just now and see a company name on it: Donmar. So I take it that it's really not an OEM Kit or even a SET or SWT kit, but an aftermarket kit sold to dealers only - the Donmar site confirms they do not sell to the public.
I found the Fog Lamp Install Guide: TPV-312 (2012 Toyota Prius V) on the Donmar Tech support webpage here , but unfortunately the file is password protected. I figured it out and it is very obvious, but I don't feel right posting it.
Good find. They only included a black and white xerox copy in the kit, and the diagrams and pictures in the pdf are a lot clearer. I have to make a confession that I'm not very good about reading all the directions, so I only read the parts that I couldn't just figure out - basically which wires to tap and that was about it. Everything else pretty much plugs together and the connectors all only go in one way so there was not really anything that you could mess up. I didn't even disconnect the battery - which I'm not endorsing or recommending so proceed with your own caution - and I see now that they list at the first thing to do
I just got the last of the 10 available ... sorry anyone who missed out ... I'm sure they will have 10 more up soon...
After a little searching, I found them for a bit cheaper at a dealer in Georgia ($149.95), who apparently does online commerce. Shipping was also cheaper. Not sure if it is OK to post the link, but here it is.
That's too funny, I'm in Metro Atlanta and I could have just driven there and bought a set. It looks like the same kit but with different instructions made by SET. The instructions are a good bit longer but really skims over too briefly the really only tricky part of the T-tap. I see in these they were able to T-Tap both wires in the same harness without having to go into the steering column which is great and wish I would have gotten those instructions. Still seems to work fine either way though.
Wondering does anyone have photos of taking the lower panel off to get to the bumper ...? Did you break any of the christmas tree clips in doing so ... was talking to dealer about the find online -- and he said i would probably break a few clips... they wanted a couple bucks a piece for them.... sheesh... rip-off... anyway... just wondering ... my kit should arrive via UPS today or tomorrow.... can't wait.
Thanks for the link Smoter, the dealer is mailing my fog lamp kit today... Hopefully I'll be able to post pics of before and after.
No clips. It comes out like a large tray covering most of the front end. There are 12 bolts, actually I believe it was 4 screws that screwed into the front bumper clip, and 8 bolts that go into metal panels. There are actually more holes down there that could possibly be used with the christmas tree clips but there were none installed on mine, so none that I had to take off. Remove the screws/bolts and the whole thing comes off pretty easily, there was a couple places where the tray kind of interlocked with the front clip, just remember how it came off and put it back the same way.
I installed my kit this weekend, and wanted to share a discovery. on my v2....you can haveauto on headlights, simply by adding a ground to the green wire, pin 19 on steering coluMN harness. I tested and it works. the only reason it doesn't, is on the v2, and v3, the light switch is 3 position instead of 4. planning on adding a small toggle on open switch bay or pricing v5 switch.